Surgical implantation of an abdominal imaging window for intravital microscopy

Nat Protoc. 2013 Mar;8(3):583-94. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2013.026. Epub 2013 Feb 21.

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 ∼1 h, and subsequent multiphoton imaging, which takes up to 1 month.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Abdomen / surgery*
  • Animals
  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Diagnostic Imaging / methods*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Inbred Strains

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials