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![Espectros de absorción y emisión de substancias fluorescentes adaptada de [9].](profile/Omar-Ormachea/publication/318234782/figure/fig1/AS:513165986996224@1499359714042/Figura-1-Espectros-de-absorcion-y-emision-de-substancias-fluorescentes-adaptada-de-9.png)
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The epifluorescence microscopy is a powerful technique with high levels of sensibility and microscopic resolution that is applied in several areas, notably in the biomedical field. In this article, we present the design and development of a low-cost epifluorescence microscope based on laser excitation, a simplified barrier filter, and an embedded s...
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The epifluorescence microscopy is a powerful technique with high levels of sensibility and microscopic resolution that is applied in several areas, notably in the biomedical field.In this article, we present the design and development of a low-cost epifluorescence microscope based on laser excitation, a simplified barrier filter, and an embedded sy...
Citations
... Low-cost fluorescence microscopy [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] raises several challenges, mainly in the optical system, which requires special filtering of the light sources (e.g., LEDs or lasers) used to excite the fluorophores, while keeping the filtering system affordable, notably avoiding the use of costly fluorescence microscope cubes from conventional fluorescence microscopy (based on dichroic mirrors and special filters). ...
... In [9] a low-cost fluorescence microscope is used to detect Mycobaterium tuberculosis, using auramine fluorophore [13], which reduces the required 1000× magnification for conventional nonfluorescence techniques to only 400×. Unfortunately, because of the complexity of the optical filtering system, other low-cost fluorescence microscopes [3][4][5][6][7][8]10] do not reach the required magnification for the diagnosis of 400×: they are either a proof-of-concept (used to identify fluorescent particles) or are limited to the visualization of cells, but cannot be used for diagnosis. ...
... The development of low-cost microscopes has attracted a large body of researchers [3][4][5][6][7][8]21], thus giving an affordable alternative for developing countries due to the high costs of conventional microscopes. In [30], more than 20 types of low-cost microscopes were analyzed and reviewed, where some of them use smartphones as their optical sensor. ...
Fluorescence microscopy is an important tool for disease diagnosis, often requiring costly optical components, such as fluorescence filter cubes and high-power light sources. Due to its high cost, conventional fluorescence microscopy cannot be fully exploited in low-income settings. Smartphone-based fluorescence microscopy becomes an interesting low-cost alternative, but raises challenges in the optical system. We present the development of a low-cost inverted laser fluorescence microscope that uses a smartphone to visualize the fluorescence image of biological samples. Our fluorescence microscope uses a laser-based simplified optical filter system that provides analog optical filtering capabilities of a fluorescence filter cube. Firstly, we validated our inverted optical filtering by visualizing microbeads labeled with three different fluorescent compounds or fluorophores commonly used for disease diagnosis. Secondly, we validated the disease diagnosis capabilities by comparing the results of our device with those of a commercial fluorescence microscope. We successfully detected and visualized Trypanosoma cruzi parasites, responsible for the Chagas infectious disease and the presence of Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies of the ANCA non-communicable autoimmune disease. The samples were labeled with the fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) fluorophore, one of the most commonly used fluorophores for disease diagnosis. Our device provides a 400× magnification and is at least one order of magnitude cheaper than conventional commercial fluorescence microscopes.
Fluorescence microscopy is an important tool for disease diagnosis, often requiring costly optical components, such as fluorescence filter cubes and high-power light sources. Due to its high cost, conventional fluorescence microscopy cannot be fully exploited in low-income settings. Smartphone-based fluorescence microscopy becomes an interesting low-cost alternative, but raises challenges in the optical system. We present the development of a low-cost inverted laser fluorescence microscope, that uses a smartphone to visualize the fluorescence image of biological samples. Our fluorescence microscope uses a laser-based simplified optical filter system, that provides analog optical filtering capabilities of a fluorescence filter cube. Firstly, we validated our inverted optical filtering by visualizing microbeads labeled with three different fluorescent compounds or fluorophores, commonly used for disease diagnosis. Secondly, we validated the disease diagnosis capabilities, by comparing the results of our device with those of a commercial fluorescence microscope. We successfully detected and visualized Trypanosoma cruzi parasites, responsible of the Chagas infectious disease, and the presence of Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies of the ANCA non-communicable autoimmune disease. The samples were labeled with the fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) fluorophore, one of the most commonly used for disease diagnosis. Our device provides a 400 X magnification and is at least two orders magnitude cheaper than conventional commercial fluorescence microscopes.
