Brillouin microscopy - a revolutionary tool for mechanobiology?

TL;DR

Brillouin microscopy is an emerging optical elastography technique that non-invasively measures the viscoelastic properties of biological samples in 3D, offering new insights into cellular mechanics despite ongoing debates about its interpretation.

Contribution

This review explains the biophysical principles of Brillouin microscopy, discusses its limitations, and explores its potential applications in biology and medicine.

Findings

Provides a comprehensive overview of Brillouin microscopy principles

Highlights the technique's ability to probe 3D viscoelastic properties

Discusses current debates and future potential in biological research

Abstract

The role and importance of mechanical properties of cells and tissues in cellular function, development as well as disease has widely been acknowledged, however standard techniques currently used to assess them exhibit intrinsic limitations. Recently, a new type of optical elastography, namely Brillouin microscopy, has emerged as a non-destructive, label- and contact-free method which can probe the viscoelastic properties of biological samples with diffraction-limited resolution in 3D. This has led to increased attention amongst the biological and medical research communities, but also to debates about the interpretation and relevance of the measured physical quantities. Here, we review this emerging technology by describing the underlying biophysical principles and discussing the interpretation of Brillouin spectra arising from heterogeneous biological matter. We further elaborate on the technique's limitations as well as its potential for new insights in biology in order to guide interested researchers from various fields.