Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: A high-throughput, image-based assay to assess drug sensitivity of Acanthamoeba castellanii cysts
doi: 10.1101/2025.06.06.658337
Figure Lengend Snippet: A: The manual cell counts (x axis) reported in figure S6 were compared to those generated using the automated image analysis pipeline (y axis). Dashed line represents the perfect fit line y = x. B: Quantification of cysts described in figure S5. Live cysts in FEM and those that were heat-killed (HK) by autoclaving were incubated with fluorescent live/dead stain (blue) or PBS control (red), imaged with a Nikon Eclipse Ti-E inverted microscope (20x objective), and counted using automated image analysis pipeline. The mean and SEM of at least 3 independent experiments with at least 3 replicates per condition are shown. % red, percent of total cells stained with EthD-1; % green, percent of total cells stained with c-AM; % red is green, percent of red cells that also stained with c-AM. C, D: Cysts were treated with 0.5% bleach, 10% H 2 O 2 , 20 µM chlorhexidine, or media controls for 20 hours and compared to live cysts in FEM, heat-killed (HK) cysts, or a 1:1 mix of HK and live cysts in FEM (mix). Cells were imaged and stained with the fluorescent live/dead staining assay and counted using automated image analysis pipeline. Chlorhexidine was dissolved in DMSO; bleach and H 2 O 2 were dissolved in PBS; all three were added at 1% final volume in PBS. C: Percent survival calculated by subtracting the percent of EthD-1-stained cells (measured by fluorescent live/dead staining) from 100%. The mean and SEM of at least 3 independent experiments with at least 3 replicates per condition are shown. Statistical differences calculated with one-way ANOVA (Brown-Forsythe and Welch ANOVA tests for unequal SDs) with Dunnett’s T3 multiple comparisons test. D: Microscopy of cysts following treatment. Images acquired using a Nikon Eclipse Ti-E inverted microscope (20x objective). Representative images displayed.
Article Snippet: Phase-brightfield and fluorescent (using GFP and TRITC channels to image c-AM and EthD-1 staining, respectively) images of wells were then taken with an automated Nikon Eclipse Ti-E inverted microscope (20x objective) and an Andor Zyla VSC-01400 camera with 3 separate Z stacks taken with 5 μm steps per channel, per well.
Techniques: Generated, Incubation, Staining, Control, Inverted Microscopy, Microscopy