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Plasma membrane injury activates membrane trafficking and remodeling events that are required for the injured membrane to repair. With the rapidity of the membrane repair process, the repair response needs to be monitored at high temporal and spatial resolution. In this chapter, we describe the use of live cell optical imaging approaches to monitor injury-triggered bulk and individual vesicle endocytosis. Use of these approaches allows quantitatively assessment of the rate of retrieval of the injured plasma membrane by bulk endocytosis as well as by endocytosis of individual caveolae following plasma membrane injury.

Quantum dots (QDs) can be used to label live cells for long-term tracking experiments. The stability of the QDs ensures low toxicity and long-term imaging capability. The multicolor capabilities of QDs allows the simultaneous monitoring of complex cellular populations, allowing more information-rich experiments to be performed. This chapter discusses the ways in which one can label cells with QDs, and a number of ways to characterize the impact that the labeling has on the cellular populations.