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In Vitro Models for the Study of the Intracellular Activity of Antibiotics

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Bacterial Persistence

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2357))

Abstract

Intracellular bacteria are poorly responsive to antibiotic treatment. Pharmacological studies are thus needed to determine the antibiotics which are the most potent or effective against intracellular bacteria as well as to explore the reasons for poor bacterial responsiveness. An in vitro pharmacodynamic model is described, consisting of (1) phagocytosis of preopsonized bacteria by eukaryotic cells, (2) elimination of noninternalized bacteria with gentamicin, (3) incubation of infected cells with antibiotics, and (4) determination of surviving bacteria by viable cell counting and normalization of the counts based on sample protein content. The use of strains expressing fluorescent proteins under the control of an inducible promoter allows to follow intracellular bacterial division at the individual level and therefore to monitor bacterial persisters that do not multiply anymore.

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Acknowledgments

Intracellular infection models have been developed thanks to the financial support of the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Interuniversity Attraction Poles initiated by the Belgian Science Policy Office, and the Brussels and Walloon Regions.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Julien M. Buyck

    Present address: INSERM U1070 “Pharmacology of Anti-infective Agents”, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France

  2. Sandrine Lemaire

    Present address: GSK Biologicals, Rixensart, Belgium

  3. Cristina Seral

    Present address: Department of Microbiology, Hospital Clínico Universitario Lozano Blesa, Zaragoza, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmacologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire, Louvain Drug Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium

    Frédéric Peyrusson, Tiep K. Nguyen, Julien M. Buyck, Sandrine Lemaire, Gang Wang, Cristina Seral, Paul M. Tulkens & Françoise Van Bambeke

Authors
  1. Frédéric Peyrusson
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  2. Tiep K. Nguyen
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  3. Julien M. Buyck
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  4. Sandrine Lemaire
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  5. Gang Wang
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  6. Cristina Seral
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  7. Paul M. Tulkens
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  8. Françoise Van Bambeke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Françoise Van Bambeke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, VIB, Leuven, Belgium

    Natalie Verstraeten

  2. VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, VIB, Leuven, Belgium

    Jan Michiels

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© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Peyrusson, F. et al. (2021). In Vitro Models for the Study of the Intracellular Activity of Antibiotics. In: Verstraeten, N., Michiels, J. (eds) Bacterial Persistence. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2357. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1621-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1621-5_16

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1620-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1621-5

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