1. Surgical implantation of an abdominal imaging window for intravital microscopy
- Author
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Inne H.M. Borel Rinkes, Onno Kranenburg, Laila Ritsma, Ernst J.A. Steller, Jacco van Rheenen, Saskia I.J. Ellenbroek, and Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research
- Subjects
Diagnostic Imaging ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Mice, Inbred BALB C ,Biocompatible Materials ,Mice, Inbred Strains ,Anatomy ,Biology ,Metastatic tumor ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,Mice ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Abdomen ,medicine ,Animals ,Pancreas ,Multiphoton imaging ,Intravital microscopy - Abstract
High-resolution intravital microscopy through imaging windows has become an indispensable technique for the long-term visualization of dynamic processes in living animals. Easily accessible sites such as the skin, the breast and the skull can be imaged using various different imaging windows; however, long-term imaging studies on cellular processes in abdominal organs are more challenging. These processes include colonization of the liver by metastatic tumor cells and the development of an immune response in the spleen. We have recently developed an abdominal imaging window (AIW) that allows long-term imaging of the liver, the pancreas, the intestine, the kidney and the spleen. Here we describe the detailed protocol for the optimal surgical implantation of the AIW, which takes approximately 1 h, and subsequent multiphoton imaging, which takes up to 1 month.
- Published
- 2013