title: Utilization of 3D printing for an intravital microscopy platform to study the intestinal microcirculation.
abstract: Intravital microscopy of the intestine is a sophisticated technique that allows qualitative and quantitative in vivo observation of dynamic cellular interactions and blood flow at a high resolution. Physiological conditions of the animal and in particular of the observed organ, such as temperature and moisture are crucial for intravital imaging. Often, the microscopy stage with the animal or the organ of interest imposes limitations on how well the animal can be maintained. In addition, the access for additional oxygen supply or drug administration during the procedure is rather restricted. To address these limitations, we developed a novel intravital microscopy platform, allowing us to have improved access to the animal during the intravital microscopy procedure, as well as improved microenvironmental maintenance. The production process of this prototype platform is based on 3D printing of device parts in a single-step process. The simplicity of production and the advantages of this versatile and customizable design are shown and discussed in this paper. Our design potentially represents a major step forward in facilitating intestinal intravital imaging using fluorescent microscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.|Department of Anaesthesia, Pain Management and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Burkovskiy
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.|Department of Anaesthesia, Pain Management and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.|Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.|Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Pain Management and Perioperative Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. juan.zhou@dal.ca.|Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. juan.zhou@dal.ca.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007422:Intestines / Q000098:blood supply*; D000069416:Intravital Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008833:Microcirculation; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional
keywords: Intestinal microcirculation; intravital microscopy