Blood Vessel-Inspired Surface-Emitting Microscopy for Label-Free Monitoring of Single Cell Dynamics

Blood Vessel-Inspired Surface-Emitting Microscopy for Label-Free Monitoring of Single Cell Dynamics | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Blood Vessel-Inspired Surface-Emitting Microscopy for Label-Free Monitoring of Single Cell Dynamics Yu-Cheng Chen, Chaoyang Gong, Guocheng Fang, Jun Xie, Guang Yang, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6771450/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Cellular membrane dynamics play an important role when interacting with blood vessels and associated physiological processes. However, label-free mapping of cellular membrane dynamics on curved substrates remains challenging due to the strict light-coupling conditions required for exciting evanescent waves. Here, we report surface-emitting resonator interference microscopy (SERIM), which employs the evanescent wave naturally present in the near-field region of a whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator to probe the subcellular membrane dynamics. The WGM resonator provides strong optical feedback for enhancing the light-matter interaction and offers a biomimetic curvature interface for investigating membrane dynamics. The interaction of the evanescent wave with the cell membrane caused significant scattering, forming a highly sensitive interference pattern. We found that the time-resolved interference patterns can be utilized to extract subcellular membrane dynamics with a high spatial resolution of 1 μm. We further employed the SERIM to investigate the spatial heterogeneity of membrane dynamics during migration, and also stimulus responses to temperature and drugs. In striking contrast to the conventional label-free methods, the easy excitation of the evanescent wave makes SERIM a versatile label-free strategy for studying cellular behavior on a curved surface. Our work holds promise for the sensitive detection of subtle biochemical and biophysical information during cell-substrate interaction. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical techniques/Imaging and sensing Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Optical sensors Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Fibre optics and optical communications Biolaser microresonator whispering gallery mode membrane dynamics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files ManuscriptSISubmission.pdf Supporting Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6771450","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":472128424,"identity":"f7ed8d65-5b08-4cc1-92f0-82b6feff2ecc","order_by":0,"name":"Yu-Cheng 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However, label-free mapping of cellular membrane dynamics on curved substrates remains challenging due to the strict light-coupling conditions required for exciting evanescent waves. Here, we report surface-emitting resonator interference microscopy (SERIM), which employs the evanescent wave naturally present in the near-field region of a whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator to probe the subcellular membrane dynamics. The WGM resonator provides strong optical feedback for enhancing the light-matter interaction and offers a biomimetic curvature interface for investigating membrane dynamics. The interaction of the evanescent wave with the cell membrane caused significant scattering, forming a highly sensitive interference pattern. We found that the time-resolved interference patterns can be utilized to extract subcellular membrane dynamics with a high spatial resolution of 1 μm. 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