The paper describes an automatic pulsed laser microfluorometer with high spatial and temporal resolution, developed in our laboratories. The instrument consists of: (i) a nitrogen-laser-pumped dye-laser for the excitation of the fluorescence, (ii) a microscope with additional optics to focus the excitation beam on the sample and to collect the fluorescence, (iii) filters or monochromators to select the output wavelength, (iv) a fast photomultiplier tube to detect the signal, and (v) a dual time-scale microprocessor-controlled signal averager for the acquisition and processing of the signal. Examples are given that show the potential of the time-resolved fluorescence microscopy in studying, quantitatively and qualitatively, the properties of fluorescent molecules.
Animals Base Composition