Journal: The Journal of Infectious Diseases
Article Title: Use of Recombinant Chikungunya Virus expressing Nanoluciferase to Identify Chondrocytes as Target Cells in an Immunocompetent Mouse Model
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaf232
Figure Lengend Snippet: Ex vivo visualization and measurement of luciferase activity and infection in the leg bone and the articular cartilage of the ankle/metatarsi, knees and hips of infected mice. Mice were inoculated into the footpad of the right hind leg with chikungunya virus–NanoLuc luciferase (CHIKV-NLuc; 10 5 plaque-forming units [PFUs]) or the diluent alone (control). A , Leg bones of control and infected animals were dissected at 12 days post inoculation (dpi) and analyzed with bioluminescence imaging. Left, Infected mouse. Right, Control. Abbreviation: p/s/cm 2 /sr, photons per second per square centimeter per steradian. B , With use of a binocular magnifying glass, articular cartilages (hip, knee, and ankle/metatarsus) were isolated at 6, 12 and 30 dpi, and luciferase activity was quantified. Each point represents the luciferase activity of a cartilage normalized to uninfected controls and measured in 2 independent experiments; medians and interquartile ranges are also shown. Abbreviations: NS, not significant; RLU, relative luminescence unit. * P < .05; ** P < .01; *** P < .001 (nonparametric Mann-Whitney test). C, D, Mice were euthanized at 6 dpi ( C ) and 30 dpi ( D ), and cells were isolated from metatarsal cartilage. Isolated cells were immediately fixed and stained. First line (blue) indicates DAPI; second line (green) collagen type II; and third line (red) CHIKV E2. Arrows indicate cells with double labeling of type II collagen and viral E2 protein, as shown in the merge image on the bottom right-hand corner. Scale bars represent 50 µm ( C ) and 20 µm ( D ).
Article Snippet: The cells were washed and incubated with the 3E4 recombinant anti-CHIKV E2 murine antibody (Creative Biolabs).
Techniques: Ex Vivo, Luciferase, Activity Assay, Infection, Virus, Control, Imaging, Isolation, MANN-WHITNEY, Staining, Labeling