title: Surgical implantation of an abdominal imaging window for 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 ∼1 h, and subsequent multiphoton imaging, which takes up to 1 month.
authors: Hubrecht Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences KNAW-University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Laila
authors: L
authors: Ritsma
authors: Ernst J A
authors: EJ
authors: Steller
authors: Saskia I J
authors: SI
authors: Ellenbroek
authors: Onno
authors: O
authors: Kranenburg
authors: Inne H M
authors: IH
authors: Borel Rinkes
authors: Jacco
authors: J
authors: van Rheenen
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials