Thoracic Window Implantation
Thoracic Window Implantation - Related Videos
03:14
Spinal Cord Window Implantation in a Mouse for In Vivo Imaging
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2025
Source: Pietruczyk, E. A., et al. Laminectomy and Spinal Cord Window Implantation in the Mouse. J. Vis. Exp. (2019)This video demonstrates the implantation of a spinal cord window in an anesthetized mouse for in vivo imaging. The protocol stabilizes the exposed spinal cord using a borosilicate cover glass and a 3D-printed backplate. This method enables high-resolution two-photon microscopy to study blood-brain barrier dynamics and neurovascular interactions.
03:58
Implantation of Cranial Imaging Window in Mouse Model: A Surgical Procedure to Implant Glass-based Coverslip for Stable Optical Access to Regions of Murine Brain
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2023
This video presents a surgical procedure to implant cranial window in a mouse model for stable optical access to different regions of the brain.
06:59
Laminectomy and Spinal Cord Window Implantation in the Mouse
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2019
This protocol describes implantation of a glass window onto the spinal cord of a mouse to facilitate visualization by intravital microscopy.
06:33
Implantation of a Cranial Window for Repeated In Vivo Imaging in Awake Mice
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Cited by 7 •
2021
Presented here is a protocol for the implantation of a chronic cranial window for the longitudinal imaging of brain cells in awake, head-restrained mice.
09:20
Implanting Glass Spinal Cord Windows in Adult Mice with Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
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Cited by 30 •
2013
We describe a method for implanting and maintaining glass windows over the exposed spinal cords of adult mice for studying experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. These windows provide chronic optical access to the spinal cord for monitoring cell dynamics at the subcellular level in live animals using two-photon microscopy.
FAQs
The transparent window stabilizes the exposed thoracic region, creating a consistent field for repeated optical imaging. This reduces changes in the tissue position between observations and helps researchers follow the same tumor area over time. As a result, microscopy can connect cellular behavior with later changes in tumor structure, surrounding vessels, or treatment response.
Serial microscopy can show how thoracic tumors grow and invade, how blood vessels behave, and how immune cells interact with tumor tissue. Tracking these events repeatedly helps distinguish transient cellular activity from sustained changes. It also allows investigators to relate the timing of microenvironmental changes to disease progression rather than relying on one endpoint.
Longitudinal imaging links changing tumor behavior with the surrounding microenvironment in the same living animal. Researchers can examine relationships among tumor growth, invasion, blood-vessel behavior, and immune-cell interactions as they develop. This time-resolved view provides context that separate observations at different time points may not preserve, especially when cellular events influence later disease progression.
Because the same implanted window supports serial microscopy, researchers can revisit the thoracic region during disease progression and treatment studies. Repeated observations from an individual animal reduce the need to assign separate animals to every time point. The resulting design also supports direct comparison of changes over time within the observed tumor and its surrounding tissue.
The procedure begins by creating an opening in the thoracic wall to provide optical access to the relevant tissue. A transparent window is then secured over the exposed region so that the area remains stabilized for serial microscopy. In cancer research, this preparation establishes the imaging access needed to monitor tumors and their local microenvironment repeatedly.
Researchers would use this technique when they need to observe thoracic tumors and nearby tissues repeatedly in living animal models. It is suited to studies of tumor growth, invasion, blood-vessel behavior, immune-cell interactions, and treatment responses. The method is particularly useful when the research question concerns how these processes change over time and relate to disease progression.