Fluorescent Imaging and Microscopy for Dynamic Processes in Rats

The rat is a favored model organism to study physiological function in vivo. This is largely due to the fact that it has been used for decades and is often more comparable to corresponding human conditions (both normal and pathologic) than mice. Although the development of genetic manipulations in rats has been slower than in mice, recent advances of new genomic editing tools allow for the generation of targeted global and specific cell type mutations in different rat strains. The rat is an ideal model for advancing imaging techniques like intravital multi-photon microscopy or IVMPM. Multi-photon excitation microscopy can be applied to visualize real-time physiologic events in multiple organs including the kidney. This imaging modality can generate four-dimensional high resolution images that are inherently confocal due to the fact that the photon density needed to excite fluorescence only occurs at the objective focal plane, not above or below. Additionally, longer excitation wavelengths allow for deeper penetration into tissue, improved excitation, and are inherently less phototoxic than shorter excitation wavelengths. Applying imaging tools to study physiology in rats has become a valuable scientific technique due to the relatively simple surgical procedures, improved quality of reagents, and reproducibility of established assays. In this chapter, the authors provide an example of the application of fluorescent techniques to study cardio-renal functions in rat models. Use of experimental procedures described here, together with multiple available genetically modified animal models, provide new prospective for the further application of multi-photon microscopy in basic and translational research.