%A ZHAO Jun,WANG Jin-hui
%T <strong><em>In Vivo</em> Application of Two-photon Microscopy in Neuropharmacological Research</strong>
%0 Journal Article
%D 2012
%J ACTA NEUROPHARMACOLOGICA
%R 
%P 45-64
%V 2
%N 1
%U {http://actanp.hebeinu.edu.cn/CN/abstract/article_72.shtml}
%8 2012-02-26
%X Two-photon microscope is an useful and advanced tool for noninvasive deep fluorescence imaging in the intact brain tissue of living animals. Due to nonlinear two-photon effects, two-photon microscope enables long-term imaging <em>in vivo</em> with deeper detection, higher signal-to-noise ratio and lower photodamage, compared to wide-field and confocal microscopy. Two-photon microscopy can provide high-resolution images to study cellular and subcellular structure and function, including morphology, mobility and intracellular ions of cells. On the other hand, large scale two-photon imaging of cell population reveals the network construction and activity dynamics with single-cell resolution, which makes two-photon microscopy a high throughput tool in system pharmacology. Moreover, two-photon microscopy can offer some precise optical operations, such as photolysis, photoactivation, phototransfection and photodamage. Here, we give an introduction to the principles of two-photon microscopy and its <em>in vivo</em> applications in neuroscience and neuropharmacology researches.