动物活体环境下单细胞的光操控对于研究细胞的结构和功能，细胞与组织之间的相互作用，以及细胞病变机理、血栓形成机制和肿瘤细胞迁移等生物医学问题具有重要意义。2013年，光镊技术首次应用于活体动物内单细胞的捕获和操控，开辟了活体动物内光学操控新领域。本文就该领域涉及的活体操控技术及近来取得的重要研究进展进行概述，简要分析了实现深度组织内细胞操控所遇到的技术瓶颈并讨论了解决方案。

Optical manipulation of cells inside living animals can facilitate fundamental studies of structure and function of cells as well as the interactions between different cells, from which physiological insights into the cytopathogenesis and tumor cells migration could be gained. In 2013, we first achieved the goal of manipulating single red blood cells within capillaries in living mice by using infrared optical tweezers. Such an experimental achievement sheds new light on the study of optical manipulation in vivo. In this paper, we present a short review on the techniques involved in optical trapping in vivo, and further provide some examples of biomedical applications of this technology. Finally, we discuss the problems to be addressed for optical trapping through deep tissues as well as the potential solutions, from which more biomedical and clinical applications can be benefited.