Imaging of pulmonary granulomas using a photon imager.
To clarify the location of pulmonary granulomas in vivo, we prepared a Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv mutant in which the gene for a green fluorescent protein (GFP) (GFP-H37Rv) was introduced. Five weeks after aerosol infection with GFP-H37Rv, the infected lungs from guinea pigs and mice were subjected to imaging using a photon imager. Pulmonary granulomas more than 1 mm in diameter were localized clearly by the photon imager. Therefore, if a method for binding a dye (GFP, fluorescein isothiocyanate [FITC], etc.) specifically to M. tuberculosis can be developed, it will be possible to visualize granulomas using a photon imager.
Sugawara
Isamu
I
Mycobacterial Reference Center, The Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Tokyo 204-0022, Japan. sugawara@jata.or.jp
Mizuno
Satoru
S
Tatsumi
Taiga
T
Taniyama
Tadayoshi
T
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006099:Granuloma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D008264:Macrophages; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D017785:Photons
D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins