Visualization of platelets within the microcirculation of postcapillary venules and tumor microvessels in vivo.

The photographs of the intravital fluorescence microscopy demonstrate postcapillary venules of tumor-free striated skin muscle (A-B) and tumor microvessels of LLC-1 (C-D) and BFS-1 (E-F) tumors on day 14 after tumor cell implantation. Imaging of microvasculature and blood plasma flow was achieved after intravenous application of TAMRA-dextran (A,C,E). CFDA-labeled platelets were distributed homogeneously within the microcirculation of the different tissues (B,D,F). Assessment and quantification of platelet-endothelial interaction were performed during playback of the recorded video images. Scale bars represent 100 μm.