Long wavelength multiphoton excitation is advantageous for intravital kidney imaging

Intravital multiphoton microscopy is a powerful tool to study kidney physiology in living animals. However, certain technical issues have curbed its usage to date, including limited depth of tissue penetration and high background emission of endogenous signals. Most previous studies have used the excitation range 700–1000 nm. Since newer longer wavelength excitation lasers may provide solutions to these problems we constructed a microscope coupled to a laser tunable up to 1300 nm and optimized for kidney imaging. This set-up offers substantial advantages for intravital studies, especially when coupled with newly available far-red probes. First, the background at longer wavelengths is markedly reduced, thus increasing the signal to background ratio. Second, the depth of tissue penetration is significantly increased, enabling detailed imaging of previously inaccessible structures, such as deeper glomeruli. Third, using a combination of two- and three-photon excitation, multiple different fluorescent probes can be imaged simultaneously in the same animal, with clear spectral separation. Application of these techniques helped visualize pathological aspects of tubular cell function in a well-established model of acute kidney injury (maleate toxicity). Thus, utilizing long wavelength excitation offers substantial advantages for intravital kidney imaging, which together enhance the capabilities of this powerful and increasingly used research technique.