Intravital microscopy as a tool to study drug delivery in preclinical studies

The technical developments in the field of non-linear microscopy have made intravital microscopy one of the most successful techniques for studying physiological and pathological processes in live animals. Intravital microscopy has been utilized to address many biological questions in basic research and is now a fundamental tool for preclinical studies, with an enormous potential for clinical applications. The ability to dynamically image cellular and subcellular structures combined with the possibility to perform longitudinal studies have empowered investigators to use this discipline to study the mechanisms of action of therapeutic agents and assess the efficacy on their targets in vivo. The goal of this review is to provide a general overview of the recent advances in intravital microscopy and to discuss some of its applications in preclinical studies.