Intravital microscopy: Imaging host–parasite interactions in lymphoid organs

Abstract

Intravital microscopy allows imaging of biological phenomena within living animals, including host–parasite interactions. This has advanced our understanding of both, the function of lymphoid organs during parasitic infections, and the effect of parasites on such organs to allow their survival. In parasitic research, recent developments in this technique have been crucial for the direct study of host–parasite interactions within organs at depths, speeds and resolution previously difficult to achieve. Lymphoid organs have gained more attention as we start to understand their function during parasitic infections and the effect of parasites on them. In this review, we summarise technical and biological findings achieved by intravital microscopy with respect to the interaction of various parasites with host lymphoid organs, namely the bone marrow, thymus, lymph nodes, spleen and the mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue, and present a view into possible future applications.

Organotypic endothelial adhesion molecules are key for Trypanosoma brucei tropism and virulence

“…For intravital imaging, surgeries were separately performed in the brain; the lungs and heart; the liver; the pancreas, spleen and kidney; the adipose tissues and lymph nodes, as described in De Niz et al. (2019a , 2019b , 2019c , 2020 ).…”

“…For intravital imaging, surgeries were separately performed in the brain; the lungs and heart; the liver; the pancreas, spleen and kidney; the adipose tissues and lymph nodes, as described in De Niz et al (2019a, 2019b, 2019c. Briefly, mice were anaesthetized with a mixture of ketamine (120 mg/kg) and xylazine (16 mg/kg) injected intraperitonially.…”

“…T. brucei invades the bloodstream and lymph and disseminates across the host body ( Krüger and Engstler, 2018 ). The adipose tissue, skin, and brain have been identified as important extravascular reservoirs of T. brucei because of the numbers of parasites harbored, the role they play in parasite transmission, or the associated pathology, respectively ( Casas-Sánchez and Acosta-Serrano, 2016 ; De Niz et al., 2019a , De Niz et al., 2019b , De Niz et al., 2019c ; Silva Pereira et al., 2019 ). Yet, the relative contribution of parasite tissue reservoirs to overall parasitemia and disease outcome is unclear.…”

Surgical and intravital microscopy protocol to image Trypanosoma brucei–host interactions in live rodent models

“… Note: Windows can be chronic or terminal. We have recently published detailed methods and uses of intravital microscopy and existing surgical methods in the context of parasitology, as a mini-series collection (( De Niz et al., 2019b ; 2019c ; 2019a , 2020 ). In this work, we will focus on the description of terminal windows only.…”

Intravital imaging of host‐parasite interactions in organs of the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities

“…Each of these organs poses specific challenges for IVM, which are important to consider for successful imaging. These are covered in detail in subsequent sections, with the exception of the spleen and intestines, which have been addressed in another review of this mini‐series (De Niz, Meehan, & Tavares, ).…”