Intravital microscopy in atherosclerosis research

Atherosclerosis is a lipid-driven inflammatory disorder that narrows the arterial lumen and can induce life-threatening complications from coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral artery disease. On a mechanistic level, the development of novel cellular-resolution intravital microscopy imaging approaches has recently enabled in vivo studies of underlying biological processes governing disease onset and progress. In particular multi-photon microscopy has emerged as a promising intravital imaging tool utilizing two-photon-excited fluorescence and second-harmonic generation that provides sub-cellular resolution and increased imaging depths beyond confocal and epifluorescence microscopy. In this chapter, we describe the state-of-the-art multi-photon microscopy applied to the study of murine atherosclerosis.