Super-resolution light-sheet fluorescence microscopy by SOFI

Here we describe a new method, named LS-SOFI, that combines l ight- s heet fluorescence microscopy and s uper-resolution o ptical f luctuation i maging to achieve fast nanoscale-resolution imaging over large fields of view in native 3D tissues. We demonstrate the use of LS-SOFI in super-resolution analysis of neuronal structures and synaptic proteins, including cortical axons, dendritic spines, pre- and postsynaptic cytoskeletal proteins and postsynaptic AMPA receptors, in thick mouse brain sections. We also introduce an algorithm to determine the number of active fluorophore emitters detected, allowing the localization of individual molecules in LS-SOFI images. We conclude that LS-SOFI is a versatile method for fast super-resolution imaging from any tissue of the body using both commercial and custom LSFM instruments.