PUBLICATION

In vivo assessment of drug efficacy against Mycobacterium abscessus using the embryonic zebrafish test system

Authors
Bernut, A., Le Moigne, V., Lesne, T., Lutfalla, G., Herrmann, J.L., Kremer, L.
ID
ZDB-PUB-140513-34
Date
2014
Source
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy   58(7): 4054-4063 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Lutfalla, Georges
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Brain Abscess/drug therapy
  • Brain Abscess/microbiology
  • Clarithromycin/therapeutic use*
  • Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • Imipenem/therapeutic use*
  • Larva/microbiology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous/drug therapy*
  • Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous/microbiology
  • Nontuberculous Mycobacteria/drug effects*
  • Optical Imaging/methods*
  • Zebrafish/microbiology
PubMed
24798271 Full text @ Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.
Abstract
Mycobacterium abscessus is responsible for a wide spectrum of clinical syndromes and is one of the most intrinsically drug-resistant mycobacterial species. Recent evaluation of the in vivo therapeutic efficacy of the few potentially active antibiotics against M. abscessus was essentially performed using immune-compromised mice. Herein, we assessed the feasibility and sensitivity of fluorescence imaging for monitoring the in vivo activity of drugs against acute M. abscessus infection using zebrafish embryos. A protocol was developed where clarithromycin and imipenem were directly added to water containing fluorescent M. abscessus-infected embryos in a 96-well plate format. The status of the infection with increasing drug concentrations was visualized on a spatiotemporal level. Drug efficacy was assessed quantitatively by measuring the index of protection, the bacterial burden (CFU) and the number of abscesses through fluorescence measurements. Both drugs were active in infected embryos and were capable of significantly increasing embryo survival in a dose-dependent manner. Protection from bacterial killing correlated with restricted mycobacterial growth in the drug-treated larvae and with reduced pathophysiological symptoms, such as the number of abscesses within the brain. In conclusion, we present here a new and efficient method for testing and compare the in vivo activity of two clinically-relevant drugs based on a fluorescent reporter strain in zebrafish embryos. This approach could be used for rapid determination of in vivo drug susceptibility profile of clinical isolates and to assess the preclinical efficacy of new compounds against M. abscessus.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping