Recording Leukocyte Rolling and Adhesion on Meningeal Vessels by Intravital Microscopy

Leukocyte infiltration in the central nervous system (CNS) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of neuroinflammatory diseases, being an important step in the development of an inflammatory response in the brain. The use of intravital microscopy technique allows the direct in vivo assessment of leukocyte rolling and adhesion processes on cerebral cortical pial vessels. The current text highlights the use of intravital microscopy and its association with inflammatory parameters in different models of experimental neuroinflammatory diseases as viral encephalitis, cerebral malaria, and hepatic encephalopathy. We also describe a detailed protocol of intravital microscopy of meningeal (pia mater) vessels to study during the recruitment of inflammatory cells into CNS. Recently, the development of cranial windows has allowed the visualization of cells in the living brain over time. Advances in microscopy methods have brought intravital imaging among the most powerful tools employed in biomedical research, including neuroscience.