title: What ticks do under your skin: two-photon intravital imaging of Ixodes scapularis feeding in the presence of the lyme disease spirochete.
abstract: Lyme disease, due to infection with the Ixodes-tick transmitted spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common tick-transmitted disease in the northern hemisphere. Our understanding of the tick-pathogen-vertebrate host interactions that sustain an enzootic cycle for B. burgdorferi is incomplete. In this article, we describe a method for imaging the feeding of Ixodes scapularis nymphs in real-time using two-photon intravital microscopy and show how this technology can be applied to view the response of Lyme borrelia in the skin of an infected host to tick feeding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Linda K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Bockenstedt
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Jialing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Alexia A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Belperron
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haberman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D036641:Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton; D009758:Nymph / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012867:Skin / Q000469:parasitology*; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000469:parasitology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins
keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Ixodes scapularis ticks; Lyme disease; two-photon intravital microscopy