c Bacillus anthracis secretes the edema toxin (ET) that disrupts the cellular physiology of endothelial and immune cells, ultimately affecting the adherens junction integrity of blood vessels that in turn leads to edema. The effects of ET on the cytoskeleton, which is critical in cell physiology, have not been described thus far on macrophages. In this study, we have developed different adhesive micropatterned surfaces (L and crossbow) to control the shape of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) and primary peritoneal macrophages. We found that macrophage F-actin cytoskeleton adopts a specific polar organization slightly different from classical human HeLa cells on the micropatterns. Moreover, ET induced a major quantitative reorganization of F-actin within 16 h with a collapse at the nonadhesive side of BMDMs along the nucleus. There was an increase in size and deformation into a kidney-like shape, followed by a decrease in size that correlates with a global cellular collapse. The collapse of F-actin was correlated with a release of focal adhesion on the patterns and decreased cell size. Finally, the cell nucleus was affected by actin reorganization. By using this technology, we could describe many previously unknown macrophage cellular dysfunctions induced by ET. This novel tool could be used to analyze more broadly the effects of toxins and other virulence factors that target the cytoskeleton.A nthrax is a disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacterium whose spores are considered a serious bioterrorism agent (1). The major known virulence factors of B. anthracis include edema toxin (ET), formed by the association of the protective antigen (PA) component with edema factor (EF). Once in the cytosol, EF acts as a calmodulin (CaM)-dependent adenylate cyclase that increases intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) concentrations (2, 3).At the cellular level, ET effects have been more precisely described over the last decade. PA binds to at least two independent receptors (ANTXR1 or TEM-8 [tumor endothelial marker 8] and ANTXR2 or CMG-2 [capillary morphogenesis protein 2]) on target cells (4). ANTXR2 plays the major role in vivo for toxin entry. A third coreceptor, named low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor protein 6 (LRP-6), has also been proposed (5-7). PA subunits associate into heptamers to form a prepore throughout the cell surface via lipid rafts. This PA heptamer enables the binding of EF components to the cell surface in a stoichiometric ratio of 7/3. The toxin-receptor complex is then internalized by clathrin-dependent endocytosis (8, 9). The pH decrease of early endosomes results in the translocation of these factors in multivesicular bodies (MVB), finally merging with the intracellular membrane of late endosomes. This last step is responsible for translocating EF into the cytoplasm, where it stays associated with the membrane of the late endosome (10). Its perinuclear localization generates intracellular cAMP gradients from the cell nucleus to the periphery. In tur...