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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Intravital Longitudinal Imaging of Vascular Dynamics in the Calvarial Bone Marrow
Published on: April 11, 2025
[Basis of intravital bone imaging.]
Junichi Kikuta1, Masaru Ishii1
1Department of Immunology and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine and Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Japan.
Abstract:
In bone tissues, there are various kinds of cell types, such as osteoclasts, osteoblasts, monocytes, granulocyte, lymphocytes, mesenchymal cells and hematopoietic stem cells. They form a network with each other, and play critical roles in our life activities. The recent development of intravital two-photon imaging has enabled us to visualize the in vivo behavior of bone marrow cells in living bone tissues. This technique facilitates investigation of cellular dynamics in the physiology and pathogenesis of bone disorders in vivo, and would thus be useful for evaluating the efficacy of novel drugs. In this review, we summarize the basis of intravital bone imaging, and also discuss its further application.
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