Table 1.
Utility of model systems to study different aspects of T-cell development using imaging approaches.
| Subject of study | Intravital imaging of transplanted thymus | Ex vivo imaging of thymic explants | In vivo imaging of embryonic thymusa | In toto imaging of juvenile thymusb | Imaging techniques |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early thymopoiesis | X | LSCM | |||
| Homing to the thymus | X | X | LSCM, SDM, LSFM | ||
| Thymocyte–thymic epithelial cell interaction | X | X | 2PM | ||
| X | X | LSCM, SDM | |||
| Intrathymic cell migration | X | X | 2PM | ||
| X | SDM | ||||
| Thymocytes population dynamics | X | SDM | |||
| Migratory behavior in distinct thymic microenvironments | X | 2PM | |||
| X | SDM | ||||
| Positive and negative selections | X | 2PM | |||
| X | SDM, 2PM | ||||
| Thymic egress | X | X | SDM |
aIn vivo imaging of zebrafish transgenic embryos between 2.5 and 5 days post-fertilization.
bIn toto imaging of the entire thymus in medaka transgenic juveniles at 10–12 days post-fertilization.
2PM, two-photon microscopy; LSCM, Laser scanning confocal microscopy; LSFM, light-sheet-based fluorescent microscopy; SDM, Spinning-disk microscopy.