Imaging the elixir of life

Travers, Richard

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/75901 Copy

Description

Title

Imaging the elixir of life

Author(s)

Travers, Richard

Contributor(s)

Morrissey, James

Issue Date

2015-04

Keyword(s)

Biochemistry

Abstract

This image is a single snapshot taken during intravital imaging of the microcirculation in an anesthetized mouse. The layers of tissue are thin enough that we can use them to observe blood vessels in vivo using bright light microscopy (left image), fluorescent imaging of blood vessels in mice that have been injected intravenously with a green dye (center image), and a combination of the two (right image). This technique has been used for many years to study how our blood vessels respond to heat, temperature, and various hormones or other substances. In recent years with the advent of advanced imaging techniques many labs, including ours, have begun to use intravital imaging to study thrombi (blood clots that cause heart attack and stroke) forming in real time and to watch individual white blood cells respond to blood vessel inflammation and injury. Cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke are still the leading cause of death in developed countries, but imaging techniques like those described here give us an unprecedented view of how these processes happen in real life, allowing us to continue to develop better therapies to combat these deadly diseases.

Type of Resource

• text
• image

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/75901

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2015 Richard Travers

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