Abstract

Time-lapse imaging is a technique of frequent imaging and following a course of a process. Because the development of the embryonic kidney can proceed ex vivo after dissection, it is possible to study the morphogenesis by culturing the kidney in the onstage incubator of a microscope and follow the developmental process by imaging. Confocal microscopes and other three-dimensional imaging systems offer the possibility for tracking the development process in four dimensions—3D and the time.