Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 4 articles published in JoVE Immunology and Infection In Vitro Assay of Plasmodium-Infected Red Blood Cell Killing by Cytotoxic Lymphocytes Luna de Lacerda*1, Guilherme Castro*1,2, Cristopher Gomes1, Caroline Junqueira1 1Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, 2Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Here we describe a new method to help elucidate the mechanisms of cellular immunity to Plasmodium during the blood stage of infection. This is an in vitro assay that measures infected red blood cell killing by cytotoxic lymphocytes. Biology Quantitative Analysis of Viscoelastic Properties of Red Blood Cells Using Optical Tweezers and Defocusing Microscopy Lucas Barreto*1,2, Fran Gomez*1,2, Pedro S. Lourenço1,2, Douglas G. Freitas1,2, Juliana Soares1,3, Clemilson Berto-Junior4,5, Ubirajara Agero6, Nathan B. Viana1,2, Bruno Pontes1,2,3,7 1Centro Nacional de Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem - CENABIO, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2Instituto de Física, Programa de Pós-graduação Multidisciplinar em Física Aplicada, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 3Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas Biofísica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 4Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - Campus Macaé, 5Faculdade de Medicina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Endocrinologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 6Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 7Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Here, an integrated protocol based on optical tweezers and defocusing microscopy is described to measure the rheological properties of cells. This protocol has wide applicability in studying the viscoelastic properties of erythrocytes under variable physio-pathological conditions. Biology Visualizing Lymph Node Structure and Cellular Localization using Ex-Vivo Confocal Microscopy Rafael M. Rezende*1, Mateus E. Lopes*2, Gustavo B Menezes2, Howard L. Weiner1 1 This protocol describes a technique to image different cell populations in draining lymph nodes without alterations in the organ structure. Neuroscience Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in Mice Eduardo de Souza Nicolau1, Kevin Augusto Farias de Alvarenga1, Helia Tenza-Ferrer1, Matheus Carvalho Alves Nogueira1, Fernanda Donizete Rezende1, Nycolle Ferreira Nicolau1, Mélcar Collodetti1, Débora Marques de Miranda1, Luiz Alexandre Viana Magno1, Marco Aurélio Romano-Silva1 1Centro de Tecnologia em Medicina Molecular (CTMM), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a therapeutic technique proposed to treat psychiatric diseases. An animal model is essential for understanding the specific biological alterations evoked by tDCS. This protocol describes a tDCS mouse model that uses a chronically implanted electrode.
