title: Validation of a medium-throughput method for evaluation of intracellular growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
abstract: Intracellular pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis have adapted to a life inside host cells, in which they utilize host nutrients to replicate and spread. Ineffective methods for the evaluation of growth of intracellular pathogens in their true environment pose an obstacle for basic research and drug screening. Here we present the validation of a luminometry-based method for the analysis of intramacrophage growth of M. tuberculosis. The method, which is performed in a medium-throughput format, can easily be adapted for studies of other intracellular pathogens and cell types. The use of host cells in drug-screening assays dedicated to find antimicrobials effective against intracellular pathogens permits the discovery of not only novel antibiotics but also compounds with immunomodulatory and virulence-impairing activities, which may be future alternatives or complements to antibiotics.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Microbiology, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eklund
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Welin
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schön
authors.forename: Olle
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Stendahl
authors.forename: Kris
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huygen
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lerm
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D008163:Luminescent Measurements / Q000379:methods; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000254:growth & development*