Intravital Microfluidic Windows for Delivery of Chemicals, Drugs and Probes

Intravital imaging, the microscopic visualization of cellular events in living animals, is becoming a powerful tool for the study of many disease processes. The development of the mammary imaging window has been shown to be advantageous for high resolution imaging for the study of cell movements within an organism and can be used to allow the precise observation of cells and tumor angiogenesis for many days [1,2] [3]. A major disadvantage of intravital imaging, however, is that the imaging windows are typically sewn into the skin of the animal, and therefore, the imaging area is not amendable to chemical or drug treatments. The addition of local agents by syringe needle is problematic as injection can elicit unwanted wound responses that complicate elucidation of cellular-response pathways to both secreted factors and pharmacological agents. Systemic treatments can be harmful to the animal and reagents may not make their way to the area under observation. We have designed microfluidic glass windows that will alleviate these complications and provide real time spatial and temporal addition of chemical treatments to cells and tissues.