title: Trypanosoma cruzi: single cell live imaging inside infected tissues.
abstract: Although imaging the live Trypanosoma cruzi parasite is a routine technique in most laboratories, identification of the parasite in infected tissues and organs has been hindered by their intrinsic opaque nature. We describe a simple method for in vivo observation of live single-cell Trypanosoma cruzi parasites inside mammalian host tissues. BALB/c or C57BL/6 mice infected with DsRed-CL or GFP-G trypomastigotes had their organs removed and sectioned with surgical blades. Ex vivo organ sections were observed under confocal microscopy. For the first time, this procedure enabled imaging of individual amastigotes, intermediate forms and motile trypomastigotes within infected tissues of mammalian hosts.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP), Rua Botucatu 862 6th floor, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bianca Lima
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP), Rua Botucatu 862 6th floor, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cristina Mary
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Orikaza
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP), Rua Botucatu 862 6th floor, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Esteban Mauricio
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Cordero
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP), Rua Botucatu 862 6th floor, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renato Arruda
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mortara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000469:parasitology; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000166:cytology* / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins
keywords: Trypanosoma cruzi; amastigote; epimastigote-like; ex vivo; live imaging; trypomastigote