Intravital microscopy with multiphoton excitation is a recently developed optical imaging technique for deep tissue imaging without fixation or sectioning, which permits examination of fundamental concepts regarding the dynamic nature of cells under physiological and pathological conditions in living animals. This novel technique also offers exciting opportunities for pharmacological research by providing new platforms for the study of cellular dynamics in response to drugs in vivo. Moreover, fluorescent chemical probes for functional or molecular analysis in single cells in vivo play important roles in pharmacology. For example, we have recently revealed the pharmacodynamic actions of different biological agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in vivo by directly visualizing drug-induced cellular behaviors and functions of osteoclasts on bone surfaces. This review focuses on the principles and advantages of intravital imaging for the dissection of pharmacological mechanisms, and discusses how such imaging can contribute to the drug development process, introducing recent trials that evaluated the in vivo pharmacological effects of various agents.

中文翻译：

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活体多光子显微镜术是免疫药理学领域的一种新型工具。

具有多光子激发的活体显微术是最近开发的用于深部组织成像而无需固定或切片的光学成像技术，该技术允许检查有关在活体动物的生理和病理条件下细胞动态性质的基本概念。通过提供用于研究体内药物响应的细胞动力学的新平台，这项新技术还为药理学研究提供了令人兴奋的机会。此外，用于体内单细胞功能或分子分析的荧光化学探针在药理学中起重要作用。例如，我们最近通过直接观察药物诱导的骨表面破骨细胞的细胞行为和功能，揭示了不同生物制剂在体内治疗类风湿性关节炎（RA）的药效学作用。这篇综述着重于活体影像学在解剖药理机制方面的原理和优势，并讨论了这种影像学如何促进药物开发过程，并介绍了评估各种药物的体内药理作用的最新试验。