Axenic Amastigotes
Axenic Amastigotes - Related Videos
05:55
In Vivo Imaging of Leishmania infantum-infected Hamsters by Gingival Inoculation of Axenic Amastigotes Expressing Luciferase
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2025
Here we present a longitudinal evaluation of golden hamsters infected intraperitoneally (IP) or via intragingival (IG) with L. infantum-Luc by bioluminescent imaging and by PCR. Hamsters were evaluated 1 day post infection (1 dpi), 1 week after infection (8 dpi), and 3 weeks after infection (22 dpi) and euthanized at the 50th dpi and 8 months post infection.
09:34
Rearing the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster Under Axenic and Gnotobiotic Conditions
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Cited by 128 •
2016
A method for rearing Drosophila melanogaster under axenic and gnotobiotic conditions is presented. Fly embryos are dechorionated in sodium hypochlorite, transferred aseptically to sterile diet, and reared in closed containers. Inoculating diet and embryos with bacteria leads to gnotobiotic associations, and bacterial presence is confirmed by plating whole-body Drosophila homogenates.
05:58
Rearing Axenic Delia antiqua with Half-Fermented Sterile Diets
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Cited by 3 •
2023
A simple procedure for rearing axenic Delia antiqua with half-fermented sterile diets is described. Only one Wolbachia strain was detected in each instar of axenic D. antiqua using PCR.
08:26
Culturing Caenorhabditis elegans in Axenic Liquid Media and Creation of Transgenic Worms by Microparticle Bombardment
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Cited by 20 •
2014
C. elegans is usually grown on solid agar plates or in liquid cultures seeded with E. coli. To prevent bacterial byproducts from confounding toxicological and nutritional studies, we utilized an axenic liquid medium, CeHR, to grow and synchronize a large number of worms for a range of downstream applications.
06:13
Introducing a Gene Knockout Directly Into the Amastigote Stage of Trypanosoma cruzi Using the CRISPR/Cas9 System
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Cited by 5 •
2019
Here, we describe a protocol to introduce a gene knockout into the extracellular amastigote of Trypanosoma cruzi, using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. The growth phenotype can be followed up either by cell counting of axenic amastigote culture or by proliferation of intracellular amastigotes after host cell invasion.
FAQs
The transition is triggered by exposing promastigotes to conditions associated with the phagolysosomal environment, particularly increased temperature, acidic pH, and altered nutrients. These cues induce coordinated morphological and metabolic changes rather than a single isolated response. Studying the resulting shift helps researchers examine how Leishmania adapts to conditions encountered during intracellular infection.
Metabolic remodeling indicates that the parasite is adapting to a different environment, not merely changing shape. Altered nutrient conditions contribute to this remodeling and help reproduce aspects of the intracellular stage in culture. Measuring parasite development, metabolism, or related phenotypes can therefore reveal how environmental stress influences infection-relevant biology.
They reproduce selected features of the amastigote stage, including changes associated with higher temperature, acidic conditions, altered nutrients, morphology, and metabolism. However, they do not capture every feature created by residence inside a macrophage. This distinction makes them useful for controlled experiments, while results involving host-cell interactions require cautious interpretation and, where needed, complementary models.
The process begins with Leishmania promastigotes in cell-free culture, followed by exposure to amastigote-inducing conditions such as increased temperature, acidic pH, and altered nutrient availability. The culture is then used to investigate the resulting amastigote-like population. This workflow removes the need for infected host cells while retaining experimentally relevant developmental changes.
Cell-free cultures reduce the complexity introduced by host-cell biology, allowing parasite development, antigen expression, and parasite responses to be examined more directly. They also provide a standardized and accessible system for experiments that would be harder to interpret in infected macrophages. The model is especially useful when researchers need controlled parasite-focused measurements before studying host-cell interactions.
These cultures allow early assessment of antileishmanial drug activity against an amastigote-like parasite stage without the added complexity of macrophage infection. Researchers can examine parasite outcomes under standardized culture conditions and use the results to prioritize compounds or experimental directions. Because the model does not reproduce every intracellular feature, findings remain an early-stage screening resource rather than a complete infection model.