Table 1 |.

Microscopy techniques used for intravital microscopy

Microscope	Strength for IVM	Weakness for IVM
Wide-field	Very sensitive Fast imaging Commonly available microscope Cost-efficient	Imaging depth is limited to tens of micrometres in non-cleared tissues Poor z-resolution
Light sheet	Very fast imaging of large areas in three dimensions Minimum photodamage and fluorophore bleaching Optimally suited for embryos, brain and fixed tissue after clearing	Very large data sets Imaging depth is limited to tens of micrometres in non-cleared tissues Cannot be applied to rodents Requires specialized microscopes and expertise Susceptible to shadowing artefacts
Single-point scanning confocal	Thin optical section Commonly available microscope	Imaging depth is limited to 100 μm in non-cleared tissues Slow imaging
Spinning disc confocal	Thin optical section Fast imaging of single planes	Imaging depth is limited to tens of micrometres in non-cleared tissues Requires bright samples due to large light losses
Multiphoton	Improved imaging depth with hundreds of micrometres for three-photon and four-photon excitation in non-cleared tissues Thin optical sections Enables higher harmonics of tissue structures Up to seven channels simultaneously detected	Requires specialized microscopes and expertise Costly