Longitudinal intravital microscopy of the mouse kidney: inflammatory responses to abdominal imaging windows

Intravital microscopy enables direct observation of cell biology and physiology at subcellular resolution in real time in living animals. Implanted windows extend the scope of intravital microscopy to processes extending for weeks or even months, such as disease progression or tumor development. However, a question that must be addressed in such studies is whether the imaging window, like any foreign body, triggers an inflammatory response, and if that response alters the biological process under investigation. To directly evaluate this question, we conducted large-scale intravital microscopy of the kidney of LysM-EGFP mice over time after implantation of abdominal imaging windows. These studies demonstrate that windows stimulated a variety of changes consistent with a foreign body response. Within a few days of implantation, leukocytes were recruited to the window and the region between the window and kidney where, over the next 16 days, they increased in number in an expanding volume that developed a new vascular network. These changes were accompanied by a dramatic increase in glomerular albumin permeability within 2 - 5 days of implantation. Similar results were obtained from mice implanted with windows coated with PLL-g-PEG, but not from immune-deficient mice. These studies demonstrate the importance of evaluating whether implanted windows induce an inflammatory response, and whether that response impacts the processes under evaluation in longitudinal intravital microscopy studies.