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Imaging Infection by Vector-Borne Protozoan Parasites Using Whole-Mouse Bioluminescence

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Bioluminescence

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2524))

Abstract

Vector-borne protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium spp. Leishmania spp. and Trypanosoma brucei are responsible for several serious diseases. Significant advances in parasitology have been made using rodent models combined with live imaging techniques, including whole-mouse bioluminescence imaging (BLI). This technique has been applied to investigate parasite dissemination, infectivity, and growth. It has also been used in drug and vaccine testing. This chapter focuses on the methods that utilize whole-mouse BLI to (i) evaluate the homing and infectivity of Plasmodium berghei sporozoites; (ii) conduct in vivo testing of promising chemical entities against Leishmania infantum infection; and (iii) study molecular mechanisms of host susceptibility to Trypanosoma brucei brucei infection.

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Acknowledgments

We apologize to many researchers in this field whose work we have not been able to cite directly because of the limits of space. This work was supported by funds from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)/Ministério da Educação e Ciência (MEC) co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under the Partnership agreement PT2020, through the Research Unit No. 4293, and the grant PTDC/SAU-PAR/31340/2017.

JT is an Investigator funded by national funds through FCT and co-funded through FEDER Grant CEECIND/02362/2017. DMC and MS are funded by the FCT individual fellowships SFRH/ BD/123734/2016 and SFRH/BD/133485/2017, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde and Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Host-Parasite Interactions Group, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Mónica Sá, David Mendes Costa & Joana Tavares

Authors
  1. Mónica Sá
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  2. David Mendes Costa
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  3. Joana Tavares
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joana Tavares .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Management Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Sung-Bae Kim

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Sá, M., Costa, D.M., Tavares, J. (2022). Imaging Infection by Vector-Borne Protozoan Parasites Using Whole-Mouse Bioluminescence. In: Kim, SB. (eds) Bioluminescence. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2524. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2453-1_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2453-1_29

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2452-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2453-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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