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Whole-body imaging of bacterial infection and antibiotic response

Nature Protocols volume 1, pages 2988–2994 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

We describe imaging of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing bacteria from outside intact infected animals. This simple, non-intrusive technique can show in great detail the spatial–temporal behavior of the infectious process. The bacteria, expressing the GFP, are sufficiently bright as to be clearly visible from outside the infected animal and recorded with simple equipment. Introduced bacteria can be whole-body imaged in most mouse organs, including the peritoneal cavity, stomach, small intestine, and colon. This imaging technology affords a powerful approach to visualizing the infection process, determining the tissue specificity of infection, the spatial migration of the infectious agents and the response to antimicrobial agents.

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Figure 1: Whole-body imaging of Escherichia coli infection in GI system.
Figure 2: Intravital imaging of Escherichia coli–GFP infection in the stomach, small intestine and colon after gavage.
Figure 3: Whole-body imaging of Escherichia coli–GFP peritoneal cavity infection and antibiotic response.
Figure 4: Intravital imaging of Escherichia coli–GFP peritoneal cavity infection.
Figure 5: Differential bacteria antibiotic response and resistance visualized by dual-color imaging in live mice.
Figure 6: Real-time imaging of GFP-labeled Salmonella typhimurium A1 targeting RFP- and GFP-labeled PC-3 human prostate tumor cells in vitro.
Figure 7: Dual-color imaging of GFP-labeled Salmonella typhimurium A1 accumulating in RFP-labeled PC-3 human prostate tumor after i.v. inoculation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. AntiCancer Incorporated, 7917 Ostrow Street, San Diego, 92111, California, USA

    Robert M Hoffman & Ming Zhao

  2. Department of Surgery, University of California at San Diego, 200 West Arbor Drive, San Diego, 92103-8220, California, USA

    Robert M Hoffman

Authors
  1. Robert M Hoffman
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  2. Ming Zhao
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Correspondence to Robert M Hoffman.

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Competing interests

R.M.H. is president of AntiCancer Inc. and M.Z. is a Senior Staff Scientist at AntiCancer Inc. AntiCancer Inc. has commercial activities in the area of fluorescent-protein-based imaging and has a Technology Development Agreement with Olympus Corporation.

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Hoffman, R., Zhao, M. Whole-body imaging of bacterial infection and antibiotic response. Nat Protoc 1, 2988–2994 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2006.376

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