Imaging the vascular wall: from microscope to virtual reality

The classical method of examining tissue structure is to use histological stains applied to thinly cut sections of fixed and embedded samples. However, we often need to visualise structure in living tissue in both 2D and 3D. Wide-field fluorescence, confocal and multiphoton microscopy provides that possibility. This chapter introduces the basic concept of using fluorescent probes to visualise the 3D structure of the live (unfixed) vascular wall. In addition, the chapter introduces recent developments that utilise high-end animation software, games engines and virtual reality for the study of vascular structure