This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Saeij, J. P. J.
Right arrow Articles by Boothroyd, J. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Saeij, J. P. J.
Right arrow Articles by Boothroyd, J. C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, February 2005, p. 695-702, Vol. 73, No. 2
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.2.695-702.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bioluminescence Imaging of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Living Mice Reveals Dramatic Differences between Strains

Jeroen P. J. Saeij,1,{dagger} Jon P. Boyle,1,{dagger} Michael E. Grigg,1,2 Gustavo Arrizabalaga,1,{ddagger} and John C. Boothroyd1*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California,1 Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada2

Received 17 August 2004/ Returned for modification 22 September 2004/ Accepted 11 October 2004

We examined the in vivo growth, dissemination, and reactivation of strains of the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii using a bioluminescence-based imaging system. Two T. gondii strains, one with a highly virulent disease phenotype in mice (S23) and the other with a 1,000-fold-lower virulence phenotype (S22), were engineered to stably express the light-emitting protein luciferase. One clone of each wild-type strain was isolated, and the two clones (S23-luc7 and S22-luc2) were found to express similar levels of luciferase. Mice were infected intraperitoneally with S23-luc7 (50 or 5 parasites) or S22-luc2 (500, 50, or 5 parasites), and the progress of the infections was examined noninvasively following injection of the substrate for luciferase, D-luciferin. In mice infected with 50 S23-luc7 parasites, the parasites grew exponentially within the peritoneal cavity (as measured by light emitted from luciferase-expressing parasites) during days 1 to 10 p.i., and this proliferation continued until there was severe disease. In mice infected with 500 S22-luc2 parasites, the parasites proliferated in a fashion similar to the S23-luc7 proliferation during days 1 to 6, but this was followed by a precipitous drop in the signal to levels below the limit of detection. Using this technique, we were also able to observe the process of reactivation of T. gondii in chronically infected mice. After treatment with dexamethasone, we detected reactivation of toxoplasmosis in mice infected with S23-luc7 and S22-luc2. During reactivation, growth of S23-luc7 was initially detected primarily in the head and neck area, while in S22-luc2-infected mice the parasites were detected primarily in the abdomen. This method has great potential for identifying important differences in the dissemination and growth of different T. gondii strains, especially strains with dramatically different disease outcomes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Fairchild Building D305, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Dr., Stanford, CA 94305-5124. Phone: (650) 723-7984. Fax: (650) 723-6853. E-mail: john.boothroyd{at}stanford.edu.

Editor: J. F. Urban, Jr.

{dagger} J.P.J.S. and J.P.B. contributed equally to this article.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho.

Infection and Immunity, February 2005, p. 695-702, Vol. 73, No. 2
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.2.695-702.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Tomita, T., Yamada, T., Weiss, L. M., Orlofsky, A. (2009). Externally Triggered Egress Is the Major Fate of Toxoplasma gondii during Acute Infection. J. Immunol. 183: 6667-6680 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dunay, I. R., Chan, W. C., Haynes, R. K., Sibley, L. D. (2009). Artemisone and Artemiside Control Acute and Reactivated Toxoplasmosis in a Murine Model. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 53: 4450-4456 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Krautz-Peterson, G., Ndegwa, D., Vasquez, K., Korideck, H., Zhang, J., Peterson, J. D., Skelly, P. J. (2009). Imaging schistosomes in vivo. FASEB J. 23: 2673-2680 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Anderson, M. Z., Brewer, J., Singh, U., Boothroyd, J. C. (2009). A Pseudouridine Synthase Homologue Is Critical to Cellular Differentiation in Toxoplasma gondii. Eukaryot Cell 8: 398-409 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brock, M., Jouvion, G., Droin-Bergere, S., Dussurget, O., Nicola, M.-A., Ibrahim-Granet, O. (2008). Bioluminescent Aspergillus fumigatus, a New Tool for Drug Efficiency Testing and In Vivo Monitoring of Invasive Aspergillosis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 7023-7035 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Di Cristina, M., Marocco, D., Galizi, R., Proietti, C., Spaccapelo, R., Crisanti, A. (2008). Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Toxoplasma gondii Differentiation into Bradyzoites and Tissue Cyst Formation In Vivo. Infect. Immun. 76: 3491-3501 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Saeij, J. P. J., Arrizabalaga, G., Boothroyd, J. C. (2008). A Cluster of Four Surface Antigen Genes Specifically Expressed in Bradyzoites, SAG2CDXY, Plays an Important Role in Toxoplasma gondii Persistence. Infect. Immun. 76: 2402-2410 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lawley, T. D., Bouley, D. M., Hoy, Y. E., Gerke, C., Relman, D. A., Monack, D. M. (2008). Host Transmission of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Is Controlled by Virulence Factors and Indigenous Intestinal Microbiota. Infect. Immun. 76: 403-416 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Niebuhr, D. W., Millikan, A. M., Cowan, D. N., Yolken, R., Li, Y., Weber, N. S. (2008). Selected Infectious Agents and Risk of Schizophrenia Among U.S. Military Personnel. Am. J. Psychiatry 165: 99-106 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Webster, J. P. (2007). The Effect of Toxoplasma gondii on Animal Behavior: Playing Cat and Mouse. Schizophr Bull 33: 752-756 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kim, S.-K., Fouts, A. E., Boothroyd, J. C. (2007). Toxoplasma gondii Dysregulates IFN-{gamma}-Inducible Gene Expression in Human Fibroblasts: Insights from a Genome-Wide Transcriptional Profiling. J. Immunol. 178: 5154-5165 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kim, S.-K., Karasov, A., Boothroyd, J. C. (2007). Bradyzoite-Specific Surface Antigen SRS9 Plays a Role in Maintaining Toxoplasma gondii Persistence in the Brain and in Host Control of Parasite Replication in the Intestine. Infect. Immun. 75: 1626-1634 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»