Basic light microscopy.

<p><b>A</b>, <b>B</b>. The camera and objective can be mounted in upright (A) or inverted mode (B). In each case, the micromanipulator allows accurate positioning of a microscope slide in the image plane, while the light-emitting diode (LED) ring coupled to a series of diffusors provides for flexible spectrum and brightness illumination (A). <b>C</b>. At low zoom, the magnification is appropriate to provide high-resolution colour images of several animals at once (here, <i>D</i>. <i>melanogaster</i> fed with 5 mM sucrose in 0.5% agarose dyed with blue or red food dyes (Food Blue No. 1 and Food Red No. 106 dyes; Tokyo Chemical Industry Co., Japan) as described in [<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2002702#pbio.2002702.ref018" target="_blank">18</a>]. <b>D</b>, <b>E</b>. When the objective is fully extended, magnification is sufficient to resolve large neurons of the mouse brain, while different positions of the LED ring permit one to highlight different structures in the tissue. <b>F</b>. The system is also appropriate to provide high-resolution imagery of zebrafish larvae (<i>D</i>. <i>rerio</i>) with only room lighting (cf. <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2002702#pbio.2002702.s003" target="_blank">S1 Video</a>). <b>G</b>, <b>H</b>. <i>Brugia malayi</i> (G) and <i>Wuchereria bankrofti</i> (H) in human lymph tissue biopsy. <b>I</b>. <i>Schistosoma</i> eggs in human urine. <b>J</b>. <i>Mansonella perstans</i> in human blood smear (Wright Giemsa stain) and <b>K</b>. magnification of bottom-right image section.