Scanning laser-induced endothelial injury: a standardized and reproducible thrombosis model for intravital microscopy

Abstract

Vascular injury models are indispensable for studying thrombotic processes in vivo. Amongst the available methods for inducing thrombosis, laser-induced endothelial injury (LIEI) has several unique advantages. However, a lack of methodological standardization and expensive instrumentation remain significant problems decreasing reproducibility and impeding the adoption of LIEI in the wider scientific community. In this, study, we developed a standardized protocol for scanning laser-induced endothelial injury (scanning-LIEI) of murine mesenteric veins using the intrinsic 405 nm laser of a conventional laser scanning confocal microscope. We show that our model produces thrombi with prominent core–shell architectures and minimal radiation-related fluorescence artefacts. In comparison with previous methods, the scanning-LIEI model exhibits reduced experimental variability, enabling the demonstration of dose–response effects for anti-thrombotic drugs using small animal cohorts. Scanning-LIEI using the intrinsic 405 nm laser of a confocal laser scanning microscope represents a new method to induce standardized vascular injury with improved reproducibility of thrombus formation. The reduced need for instrument customisation and user experience means that this model could be more readily adopted in the research community.