Advantages of three-photon live imaging for deep tissue analysis
File(s)
Published version (ahead of print)
Author(s)
Go, mary ann
Yang, mengke
Schultz, simon
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Introduction
Three-photon microscopy is an emerging tool for deep tissue imaging with superior spatial resolution. It enables imaging of portions of tissue beyond the typical depth limit of two-photon microscopy.
Areas covered
In this review, we give an overview of widely used deep tissue imaging modalities. We highlight the advantages of three-photon microscopy and review its current applications in biomedical research as well as its potential pre-clinical and clinical applications. Finally, we assess the challenges in the widespread use of three-photon live imaging in biomedical research and in clinical translation.
Expert opinion
Three-photon microscopy holds great promise as a biomedical research tool. It can uncover insights into the structure and function of tissues beyond what is accessible with two-photon microscopy. It also has promise to be a powerful clinical tool. Future clinical applications include optical biopsies with near instantaneous results and guided surgical resections. A multimodal strategy that combines three-photon technology with a large field of view, low resolution technique may be used to overcome the limited field of view of three-photon microscopy for macroscopic tissue assessment.
Three-photon microscopy is an emerging tool for deep tissue imaging with superior spatial resolution. It enables imaging of portions of tissue beyond the typical depth limit of two-photon microscopy.
Areas covered
In this review, we give an overview of widely used deep tissue imaging modalities. We highlight the advantages of three-photon microscopy and review its current applications in biomedical research as well as its potential pre-clinical and clinical applications. Finally, we assess the challenges in the widespread use of three-photon live imaging in biomedical research and in clinical translation.
Expert opinion
Three-photon microscopy holds great promise as a biomedical research tool. It can uncover insights into the structure and function of tissues beyond what is accessible with two-photon microscopy. It also has promise to be a powerful clinical tool. Future clinical applications include optical biopsies with near instantaneous results and guided surgical resections. A multimodal strategy that combines three-photon technology with a large field of view, low resolution technique may be used to overcome the limited field of view of three-photon microscopy for macroscopic tissue assessment.
Date Issued
2025-06-27
Date Acceptance
2025-06-23
Citation
Expert Review of Medical Devices, 2025
ISSN
1743-4440
Publisher
Taylor and Francis Group
Journal / Book Title
Expert Review of Medical Devices
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
License URL
Identifier
10.1080/17434440.2025.2525497
Subjects
Three-photon microscopy
THG
deep tissue imaging
optical biopsy
high spatial resolution
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2025-06-27