An image-based assay for high throughput screening of Giardia lamblia.
Giardia lamblia is a protozoan parasite that causes widespread gastrointestinal illness. Drugs to treat giardiasis are limited, but efforts to discover new anti-giardial compounds are constrained by the lack of a facile system for cell culture and inhibitor testing. We achieved robust and reproducible growth of G. lamblia in 384-well tissue culture plates in a modified TYI-S-33 medium. A high throughput assay for the screening of potential anti-giardial compounds was developed utilizing the WB strain of G. lamblia and automated optical detection of parasites after growth with tested inhibitors. We screened a library of 1600 known bioactive molecules and identified 12 compounds that inhibited growth of G. lamblia at low- or sub-micromolar concentrations. Our high throughput assay should facilitate evaluation of available chemical libraries for novel drugs to treat giardiasis.
Sandler Center for Drug Discovery, University of California, San Francisco, USA. jiri.gut@ucsf.edu
Jiri
J
Gut
Kenny K H
KK
Ang
Jennifer
J
Legac
Michelle R
MR
Arkin
Philip J
PJ
Rosenthal
James H
JH
McKerrow
D000818:Animals; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods*; D016829:Giardia lamblia / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021261:Parasitic Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods
D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents