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Development of a Larval Zebrafish Infection Model for Clostridioides difficile
In This Article
Summary
Presented here is a safe and effective method to infect zebrafish larvae with fluorescently labeled anaerobic C. difficile by microinjection and noninvasive microgavage.
Abstract
Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is considered to be one of the most common healthcare-associated gastrointestinal infections in the United States. The innate immune response against C. difficile has been described, but the exact roles of neutrophils and macrophages in CDI are less understood. In the current study, Danio rerio (zebrafish) larvae are used to establish a C. difficile infection model for imaging the behavior and cooperation of these innate immune cells in vivo. To monitor C. difficile, a labeling protocol using a fluorescent dye has been established. A localized infection is achieved by microinjecting labeled C. difficile, which actively grows in the zebrafish intestinal tract and mimics the intestinal epithelial damage in CDI. However, this direct infection protocol is invasive and causes microscopic wounds, which can affect experimental results. Hence, a more noninvasive microgavage protocol is described here. The method involves delivery of C. difficile cells directly into the intestine of zebrafish larvae by intubation through the open mouth. This infection method closely mimics the natural infection route of C. difficile.
Introduction
C. difficile is a gram-positive, spore-forming, anaerobic, and toxin-producing bacillus that is the leading cause of severe infections in the gastrointestinal tract1. Typical symptoms of CDI include diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fatal pseudomembranous colitis, and it can sometimes lead to death1,2. Evidence has shown that host immune responses play a critical role in both the progression and outcome of this disease3. In addition to the immune response, the indigenous gut microbiota is crucial for the onset and pathogenesis of CDI4....
Protocol
All animal work described here was performed in accordance with legal regulations (EU-Directive 2010/63, license AZ 325.1.53/56.1-TUBS and license AZ 33.9-42502-04-14/1418).
1. Preparation of Low Melting Agarose, Gel Plate, and Microinjection/Microgavage Needles
- Dissolve 0.08 g of low melting agarose (Table of Materials, agarose A2576) in 10 mL of 30% Danieau's medium (0.12 mM MgSO4, 0.18 mM Ca [NO3]2), 0.21 mM KCl, 1.5 mM HEPES.......
Representative Results
C. difficile is strictly anaerobic, but the chromophore of fluorescent proteins usually requires oxygen to mature. To overcome this problem, a fluorescent dye was used to stain live C. difficile cells that were actively growing (R20291, a ribotype 027 strain; Figure 1A). Using the Gal4/UAS system, stable transgenic zebrafish lines were generated for live imaging, in which the mpeg1.1 or lyZ promoters drove the expression of EGFP fluorescen.......
Discussion
The presented methods modify and extend an existing approach to infect zebrafish larvae by performing both injection and microgavage10,14. It also demonstrates an approach to study anaerobic pathogens with zebrafish larvae22. In addition, the protocol facilitates the analysis of innate immune cell responses in vivo upon CDI and upon colonization of C. difficile in zebrafish. The method is reproducible and easy to conduct in a rout.......
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Timo Fritsch for excellent animal care. We thank the members of the Köster and Steinert labs for support and helpful discussions. We thank Dr. Dandan Han for critical reading the manuscript. We gratefully acknowledge funding by the Federal State of Lower Saxony, Niedersächsisches Vorab (VWZN2889).
....Materials
| Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
| Agarose | Sigma-Aldrich | A2576 | Ultra-low gelling agarose |
| Agarose low-melting (LM) | Pronadisa | 8050 | It is used in agarose plates |
| BacLight Red Bacterial Stain | Thermo Fisher Scientific | B35001 | Fluorescent dye |
| Brain-Heart-Infusion Broth | Carl Roth GmbH | X916.1 | |
| Brass (wild-type) | deficient in melanin synthesis, used to generate stable transgenic lines | ||
| Calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2) | Sigma-Aldrich | C1396 | |
| Capillary Glass | Harvard Apparatus | 30-0019 | Injection needles |
| Clostridioides difficile | R20291,, a ribotype 027 strain, TcdA+/TcdB+/CDT+ production | ||
| DMSO | Carl Roth GmbH | A994 | |
| FIJI | open-source platform | Image processing | |
| HEPES | Carl Roth GmbH | 6763 | |
| Horizontal needle puller | Sutter instrument Inc | P-87 | |
| L-cysteine | Sigma-Aldrich | 168149 | |
| Leica Application Suite X (LAS X) | Leica | Image processing | |
| Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) | Carl Roth GmbH | P026 | |
| Micro injector | eppendorf | 5253000017 | |
| Microinjection molds | Adaptive Science Tools | TU1 | |
| Leica SP8 confocal microscope | Leica | ||
| Phenol Red | Sigma-Aldrich | P0290 | |
| Potassium chloride (KCl) | Carl Roth GmbH | 5346 | |
| Sodium chloride (NaCl) | Carl Roth GmbH | 9265 | |
| Taurocholate | Carl Roth GmbH | 8149 | |
| Tg(lyZ: KalTA4)bz17/Tg(4xUAS-E1b:EGFP)hzm3 | stable transgenic line in which in which the lyZ promoters drive the expression of EGFP fluorescent protein in neutrophils | ||
| Tg(mpeg1.1: KalTA4)bz16/Tg(4xUAS-E1b:EGFP)hzm3 | stable transgenic line in which in which the mpeg1.1 drive the expression of EGFP fluorescent protein in macrophages | ||
| Tricaine | Sigma-Aldrich | E10521 | |
| Yeast extract | BD Bacto | 212750 |
References
- Rupnik, M., Wilcox, M. H., Gerding, D. N. Clostridium difficile infection: new developments in epidemiology and pathogenesis. Nature Reviews Microbiology. 7, 526-536 (2009).
- Yang, Z., et al.
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