Awareness for artifacts in fluorescence microscopy of β-TCP

Abstract Fluorescence analysis of β-TCP ceramics is often used to describe cells found on said ceramics. However, we found, to our knowledge, so far undescribed artifacts which might sometimes be hard to differentiate from cells due to shape and fluorescence behavior. We tried prolonged ultrasound washing as well as Technovit 9100 fixation to reduce these artifacts. While untreated dowels showed no reduction in artifacts no matter the further treatment, Technovit fixation reduced the artifacts with even further reduction achieved by mechanical cleaning. As a consequence, scientists working with these dowels and likely even other types should try to avoid creating false positive results by considering the existence of these artifacts, checking additional filters for unusual fluorescence and by reducing them by using Technovit fixation when possible.