Linescan microscopy data to extract diffusion coefficient of a fluorescent species using a commercial confocal microscope

We report here on the measurement of the diffusion coefficient of fluorescent species using a commercial microscope possessing a resonant scanner. Sequential linescans with a rate of up to 12 kHz yield a temporal resolution of 83 ms, making the setup amenable to measure diffusion rates over a range covering at least three orders of magnitude, from 100 mu m(2)/s down to 0.1 mu m(2)/s. We share representative data sets covering (i) the diffusion of a dye molecule, observed in media of different viscosities and (ii) the diffusion of a prototypical membrane receptor. The data can be valuable for researchers interested in the rapid diffusion properties of nuclear, cytosolic or membrane bound proteins fused to fluorescent tags. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.