In vivo laser scanning microscopy of transgenic mice expressing cell-specific fluorescent proteins to study acute and chronic spinal cord diseases

Introduction: In vivo visualization of individual cells in the intact or diseased spinal cord will help understanding acute and degenerative neurological diseases. The advances in transgenic mouse technology expressing cell-specific fluorescent proteins as well as in laser scanning microscopy allow identifying individual cells in situ or in vivo. In a combinatorial approach, we were using two-photon microscopy and transgenic mouse technology to visualize single microglial cells expressing EGFP under the CX3CR1 promoter in the intact spinal cord. Methods: Adult transgenic mice with microglial-specific EGFP expres…