In vivo imaging is a crucial requirement for studying disease progressions and several biological processes in animal models. However, in vivo imaging can be extremely invasive, especially when deep tissue imaging is required such as in the spinal cord imaging. This routinely requires termination of the animal requiring a different animal at various time points of the longitudinal study, increasing the number of animals used. We report a microscope setup using Gradient Refractive Index (GRIN) lens microendoscopes which can enable longitudinal studies without requiring termination of the animal, hence reducing the number of animals used in the study. The reported setup has been developed to image neuroglia in the spinal cord of a mouse. This setup can also be used in other application such as lymph nodes or brain imaging and can be extended to two photon fluorescent microscope setups.
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Publications:
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Minimally invasive microscopy using GRIN lens microendoscopes
​P. C. Konda, J. Edgar, S. Barnett, and A. R. Harvey, in Biophotonics Congress: Biomedical Optics Congress 2018 (Microscopy/Translational/Brain/OTS), OSA Technical Digest (Optical Society of America, 2018), paper BTh4C.4.
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Low-cost, multispectral imaging mini-microscope for longitudinal oximetry in small animals.
​V. J. Ochoa, P. C. Konda, J. Reboud, A. R. Harvey, and J. M. Cooper, in Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science APS/DLS, The Optical Society (Optical Society of America, 2019), paper JTu4A.95.
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