HIGH-RESOLUTION MICROSCOPY Confocal microscopy is experiencing an emergence of excitement about the new possibilities it offers. Although this technology has been available for decades, recent developments (and cost reduction) of multiwavelength lasers, dichromatic mirrors, more sensitive photosensors, as well as faster computers and better image analysis software has fueled the adaptation of confocal technology to many fields. The key advantage of the confocal principle is the ability to collect high-resolution serial optical sections from thick specimens. This offers significant advantages over traditional microscopy. In traditional microscopy, fluorescence can interfere with image clarity, especially in thick (>2 Am) specimens. Confocal microscopy overcomes this problem with a pinhole placed in front of the detector to block unwanted (out of focus) light resulting in a clear image corresponding to a specific layer of the specimen. One or more beams of light (e.g., from a laser) are focused at specific depths in a tissue sample to generate discrete optical sections corresponding to the various depths within the tissue. The resulting multileveled images, which are captured independently, are then processed by a computer program and reconstructed into a 3-dimensional arrangement representing the tissue specimen with very high resolution. Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) is a common form of optical sectioning of fluorescent labeled tissues. This method uses a single beam of laser light that is scanned across a tissue sample with oscillating micromirrors. The fluorescent emissions are separated by a dichroic mirror, passed through a pinhole aperture and collected by a photomultiplier, which transmits pointby-point signals to a computer for image assembly. LSCM has been instrumental in the analysis of living