Visualizing the Dynamics of T Cell-Dendritic Cell Interactions in Intact Lymph Nodes by Multiphoton Confocal Microscopy.

Multiphoton microscopy has provided us the ability to visualize cell behavior and biology in intact organs due to its superiority in reaching deep into tissues. Because skin draining lymph nodes are readily accessible via minimal surgery, it is possible to characterize the intricate interactions taking place in peripheral lymph nodes intravitally. Here we describe our protocol to visualize antigen-specific T cell-dendritic cell interactions in the popliteal lymph node of immunocompetent mice. With this method, behaviors of up to four cell types, such as T cells with different antigen specificities, T cells differentiated into different effector and regulatory lineages and dendritic cells originating from mice that bear mutations in functional genes can be imaged simultaneously.