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REVIEW
1 Departments of Physiology and Biophysics and Medicine, Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; and
2 Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Group for Pediatrics and Nephrology, and Institute of Pathophysiology, Semmelweis University, Faculty of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary petipete{at}usc.edu
Most physiological functions of the kidneys, including the clearance of metabolic waste products, maintenance of body fluid, electrolyte homeostasis, and blood pressure, are achieved by complex interactions between multiple renal cell types and previously inaccessible structures in many organ parts that have been difficult to study. Multiphoton fluorescence microscopy offers a state-of-the-art imaging technique for deep optical sectioning of living tissues and organs with minimal deleterious effects. Dynamic regulatory processes and multiple functions in the intact kidney can be quantitatively visualized in real time, noninvasively, and with submicron resolution. This article reviews innovative multiphoton imaging technologies and their applications that provided the most complex, immediate, and dynamic portrayal of renal function—clearly depicting as well as analyzing the components and mechanisms involved in renal (patho)physiology.
* This article contains supplementary files available online at the Physiology website.
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