DIY: "Do Imaging Yourself" - Conventional microscopes as powerful tools for in vivo investigation

Abstract

Intravital imaging has been increasingly employed in cell biology studies and it is becoming one of the most powerful tools for in vivo investigation. Although some protocols can be extremely complex, most intravital imaging procedures can be performed using basic surgery and animal maintenance techniques. More importantly, regular confocal microscopes - the same that are used for imaging immunofluorescence slides - can also acquire high quality intravital images and movies after minor adaptations. Here we propose minimal adaptations in stock microscopes that allow major improvements in different fields of scientific investigation.

Keywords: Confocal microscope; Imaging protocols; Immune system; In vivo imaging; Intravital imaging.