Abstract

The opportunity to visualize biological phenomena in living organism has fascinated and improved the research field for decades. The most common way to perform these experiments consist in anesthetize small animals (such as mice and rats) and expose the tissue of interest to a light or laser source and acquire the images using a microscope. This method is denominated “intravital microscopy” and there are several studies which have wisely used this technique and improved our knowledge in several fields of life sciences. Here, we review the basic concepts necessary to perform intravital microscopy studies, describing briefly several procedures in different organs.

Key words: Intravital microscopy, in vivo imaging, microscopy, microbiology.