title: Measurement of macrophage-mediated killing of intracellular bacteria, including Francisella and mycobacteria.
abstract: Macrophages activated by T cell cytokines are a critical defense mechanism against intracellular bacterial pathogens. This unit presents two general methods for assessing the capacity of mouse macrophages, activated with either soluble cytokines or whole immune T lymphocytes, to control or reduce numbers of intracellular bacteria residing within them. "Measurement of killing" is inferred from a reduction in the number of colony-forming units (cfu) of bacteria at the end of a culture period, compared to the input numbers of cfu at initiation of culture, to the peak numbers of cfu measured during culture, or to a control group in which killing is expected to be poor.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Mycobacterial Diseases and Cellular Immunology, Division of Bacterial, Parasitic, and Allergenic Products, CBER/U.S. FDA, Rockville, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Karen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Elkins
authors.forename: Siobhán C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Cowley
authors.forename: J Wayne
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Conlan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D005603:Francisella / Q000276:immunology*; D007158:Immunologic Techniques; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D009159:Mycobacteriaceae / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines