INTRACELLULAR pH IMAGING METHOD USING FLUORESCENCE LIFETIME AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To measure pH of a measurement object substance with high accuracy without being affected by an intensity of excitation light, a concentration of a fluorescent substance and a surrounding environment.

SOLUTION: A pH measurement method includes the steps of generating pulsed excitation light containing a wavelength which can excite a predetermined fluorescent substance P contained in a living substance and acting as a coenzyme in an oxidation-reduction reaction in a living body, damaging no tissue or cell in the living substance, and having an intensity not practically changing the pH in the living substance; irradiating a predetermined position of the living substance with the pulsed excitation light; receiving light containing fluorescence to be generated from the fluorescent substance excited by the irradiation; time-resolving the intensity of the received fluorescence to calculate a lifetime of the fluorescence; and measuring the pH of the living substance based on the lifetime of the fluorescence.

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