A New Look at Cartilage—Imaging In Situ Fluorescently-Labelled Chondrocytesby Confocal Scanning Laser Microscopy Early conventional histological studies identified the general features of hyaline articular cartilage and highlighted the to-pographical arrangement and marked heterogeneity of chondrocyte morphology with depth [7]. However, with the adventof advanced microscopic imaging, which did not require thefixation or the dehydration necessary for histology with associated shrinkage artefacts [23], detailed cellular features have been revealed, which may be important for a fuller under-standing of chondrocyte be haviour in normal and degeneratecartilage. Specific fluorescent labelling of the cytoplasmicspace and components of living in situ chondrocytes withintheir unperturbed native ECM has been used with confocalscanning laser microscopy (CLSM [24]) and 2-photon laserscanning microscopy (TPLSM [25]) to produce high-resolution 3D images.