Topography of cell-glass apposition revealed by total internal reflection fluorescence of volume markers

We have developed a new method based on total internal reflection fluorescence to map the shape of the region between glass and the lower surface of a living cell spread upon it. Fluorescently labeled nonadsorbing volume marker molecules that cannot penetrate into the cell are locally stimulated so that they fluoresce only very near the glass/medium interface. The total fluorescence intensity at any point beneath the cell depends on the cell-to-glass separation. Focal contacts appear as dark areas owing to dye exclusion, whereas when the gap exceeds approximately 150 nm, fluorescence asymptotes to the bright background level. Our technique provides greater contrast than does interference reflection microscopy and is free from errors due to cytoplasmic thickness and refractive index inhomogeneities arising from cytoplasmic inclusions. We have shown that sufficiently large molecules suffer steric exclusion from regions accessible to small molecules, which gives new information about lateral penetrability in the apposition region.