29th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Photobiology

Downtown Marriot

Chicago, Il.

Real-Time Whole-Body Fluorescence Imaging of Bacterial Infection

Abstract-
The infectious process of E. coli transduced with green fluorescent protein (GFP) (E.coli-GFP) was non-invasively whole-body imaged in real time in mice in multiple organs. Instantaneous images of the infectious process were acquired with a color CCD video camera from mice simply illuminated at 490 nm. No substrate, anesthesia, or contrast agent was administered, as required by other imaging technologies. Time course of infection after gavage with real-time whole-body imaging visualized E. coli-GFP first in the stomach, which then emptied, next in the small intestine, and subsequently in the colon. Intraperitoneal injection of E. coli-GFP allowed visualization of extensive intraperitoneal infection over 6 hours. Treatment of the intraperitoneal infection was carried out with Kanamycin, and real-time regression of the infection was visualized by whole-body imaging. This new model affords real-time whole-body imaging technology to non-invasively visualize in vivo the infectious disease process, screen for new antibiotics in vivo, elucidate genetic control of antibiotic resistance and in vivo virulence, and tissue specificity of infection.

Keywords: green fluorescent protein, bacterial infection, whole-body imaging, antibiotic response