High Throughput, Real-time, Dual-readout Testing of Intracellular Antimicrobial Activity and Eukaryotic Cell Cytotoxicity

Summary

A high throughput, real-time assay was developed to simultaneously identify (1) eukaryotic cell-penetrant antimicrobials targeting an intracellular bacterial pathogen, and (2) assess eukaryotic cell cytotoxicity. A variation on the same technology was thereafter combined with digital dispensing technology to enable facile, high-resolution, dose-response, and two- and three-dimensional synergy studies.

Abstract

Traditional measures of intracellular antimicrobial activity and eukaryotic cell cytotoxicity rely on endpoint assays. Such endpoint assays require several additional experimental steps prior to readout, such as cell lysis, colony forming unit determination, or reagent addition. When performing thousands of assays, for example, during high-throughput screening, the downstream effort required for these types of assays is considerable. Therefore, to facilitate high-throughput antimicrobial discovery, we developed a real-time assay to simultaneously identify inhibitors of intracellular bacterial growth and assess eukaryotic cell cytotoxicity. Specifically, real-time intracellular bacterial growth detection was enabled by marking bacterial screening strains with either a bacterial lux operon (1^st generation assay) or fluorescent protein reporters (2^nd generation, orthogonal assay). A non-toxic, cell membrane-impermeant, nucleic acid-binding dye was also added during initial infection of macrophages. These dyes are excluded from viable cells. However, non-viable host cells lose membrane integrity permitting entry and fluorescent labeling of nuclear DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Notably, DNA binding is associated with a large increase in fluorescent quantum yield that provides a solution-based readout of host cell death. We have used this combined assay to perform a high-throughput screen in microplate format, and to assess intracellular growth and cytotoxicity by microscopy. Notably, antimicrobials may demonstrate synergy in which the combined effect of two or more antimicrobials when applied together is greater than when applied separately. Testing for in vitro synergy against intracellular pathogens is normally a prodigious task as combinatorial permutations of antibiotics at different concentrations must be assessed. However, we found that our real-time assay combined with automated, digital dispensing technology permitted facile synergy testing. Using these approaches, we were able to systematically survey action of a large number of antimicrobials alone and in combination against the intracellular pathogen, Legionella pneumophila.

Introduction

Pathogens that grow or reside temporarily in intracellular compartments are difficult to therapeutically eradicate. Obligate or relatively obligate intracellular pathogens such as Legionella pneumophila, Coxiella burnetii, Brucella spp., Francisella tularensis, and Mycobacterium spp. often require prolonged courses of antimicrobial therapy for cure that may range from months to even years. Furthermore, extracellular pathogens may transiently occupy intracellular niches and in this way escape clearance by normal courses of antimicrobial therapy and later emerge to start new rounds of virulent infection. Staphylo....

Protocol

1. Real Time Intracellular Growth and Eukaryotic Cell Cytotoxicity Assay

1. Preparing Host Cells (J774A.1 Cells)
   1. Culture J774A.1 Mus musculus macrophage-like cells in suspension in RPMI 1640 with 9% iron-supplemented calf serum. Initially passage in tissue culture flasks. After cells have become confluent in a 75 cm² tissue culture flask in 15 ml of medium, split by scraping and dilution to 65 ml with the same type of medium, of which 15 ml is returned to the tissue culture flask and 50 ml is transferred to a 250 ml bacterial shaker flask.
   2. For scale-up, culture in suspension in 250 ml and/or 1,000 ml bacterial flask....

Results

Microplate intracellular growth assay

Figure 1 diagrams the assay steps. The automated steps shown can be performed manually. However, throughput is greatly facilitated using liquid handling systems.

Figure 2 shows representative results from a 384-well microplate, dual-readout, real-time intracellular growth and eukaryotic cell cytoto.......

Discussion

We describe real-time assays for simultaneous detection of intracellular bacterial growth and host cell cytotoxicity. There are several critical steps in the protocol. First, for robust assay performance, there must be sufficient spectral separation between bacterial and cytotoxicity readouts. Such separation is intrinsic for combinations of luciferase operon reporters and fluorescent DNA-binding dyes. However, based on our experience (Table 1-3, Figure 2), use of dual, fluorescent reado.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
J774A.1 cells	American Type Culture Collection	TIB-67	Host cell
ACES	Sigma-Aldrich	A9758	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium
Yeast extract, ultrafiltered	Becton-Dickinson/Difco	210929	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium; lower grades may cause impaired growth and/or alter sensitivity of Legionella to growth inhibitors
Alpha-ketoglutaric acid, monopotassium salt	Sigma-Aldrich	K2000	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium
Sodium pyruvate	Sigma-Aldrich	P5280	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium
Potassium phosphate, dibasic	Thermo Fisher Scientific	P288-500	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium
L-cysteine	Sigma-Aldrich	C-7755	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium
Ammonium iron(III) citrate	Sigma-Aldrich	F5879	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium; ferric pyrophosphate may be used instead but is more difficult to weigh accurately
Potassium hydroxide solution, concentrated	Thermo Fisher Scientific	SP236-500	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium
Deonized water	N/A	N/A	For making buffered charcoal yeast extract agar and buffered yeast extract medium
Thymidine (tissue culture grade)	Sigma-Aldrich	T1895	For supplementing both RPMI 1640 and buffered yeast extract agar/medium — lower grade thymidine may be used for the latter, but may cause impaired cell growth and/or cell death in RPMI 1640
RPMI 1640, standard formulation	Corning via Thermo Fisher Scientific	10-040-CV	For growing J774A.1 cells prior to plating; includes 2 mM L-glutamine
RPMI 1640 lacking phenol red	Corning via Thermo Fisher Scientific	17-105-CV	For plating J774A.1 cells in 384 well dishes (not suitable for growth prior to plating); also lacks L-glutamine — supplement to 2 mM before use
L-glutamine, 200 mM in 0.85% NaCl (tissue culture grade)	HyClone via Thermo Fisher Scientific	SH30034.02	For supplementing RPMI 1640 lacking L-glutamine, to 2 mM final concentration
Iron-supplemented calf serum	Gemini Bioproducts	100-510	For supplementing RPMI 1640, to 9.1% final concentration
Trypan Blue solution	Sigma-Aldrich	T8154	For staining for J774A.1 cell death determination while counting cell density
SYTOX Green, 5 mM solution in DMSO	Thermo Fisher Scientific	S7020	For staining for J774A.1 cell death determination by fluorescence reading or epifluorescence microscopy (in conjunction with orange-red or far red fluorescent bacteria). Use at 125 nM final concentration.
Cell culture incubator	Thermo Fisher Scientific	13-255-26	For incubation of J774A.1 cells (both before and after infection); can also be used for incubation of bacteria, or a standard atmosphere incubator can be used instead)
Orbital shaker	BellCo Glass	7744-01010	For shaking incubation of J774A.1 cells before infection; fits inside cell culture incubator; includes shaker base 7744-01000 and tray 7740-01010 (these are also available separately)
Shaker flasks (250 ml)	ChemGlass Life Sciences	CLS-2038-04	For shaking incubation of J774A.1 cells before infection
Shaker clamps for flasks (250 ml)	BellCo Glass	7744-16250	For shaking incubation of J774A.1 cells before infection
Shaker flasks (1,000 ml)	ChemGlass Life Sciences	CLS-2038-07	For shaking incubation of J774A.1 cells before infection
Shaker clamps for flasks (1,000 ml)	BellCo Glass	7744-16100	For shaking incubation of J774A.1 cells before infection
Sponge foam caps for flasks (250 ml-1,000 ml)	ChemGlass Life Sciences	CLS-1490-038	For shaking incubation of J774A.1 cells before infection; reduces risk of contamination relative to standard metal caps
MultiDrop Combi programmable multichannel peristaltic pump	Thermo Fisher Scientific	5840300	For dispensing J774A.1 cells, medium, and bacterial suspension containing fluorophores to large numbers of 384 well dishes
Combi standard bore manifold	Thermo Fisher Scientific	24072670	Default predispense volume of 20 μl is insufficient to compensate for settling — increase to 80 μl
White 384 well dishes treated for tissue culture	Corning	3570	For reading luminescence and fluorescence; Greiner catalog # 781080 also tested successfully
DMSO (tissue culture grade, in sealed ampoules)	Sigma-Aldrich	D2650	For dissolving positive control and test compounds
Azithromycin	Sigma-Aldrich	PHR1088	Antibiotic positive control
Saponin (from Quillaja bark)	Sigma-Aldrich	S-4521	Cytoxicity positive control
Multichannel pipettor	Thermo Fisher Scientific	Finnpipette	For transfer of fixed amounts of positive control compounds; pipettor must have digital dispensing with detents to enable repetitive fixed volume dispensing
Epson pin transfer robot	Epson/ICCB-L	(Custom equipment)	For transfer of fixed amounts of test compounds from library arrays
D300 digital dispensing system	Hewlett-Packard via Tecan	D300	For transfer of variable amounts of test compounds ranging from 11 picoliters to 10 µl
T8+ cartridges for D300 digital dispensing system	Hewlett-Packard via Tecan	T8+	For dispensing test compounds
Epifluorescence microscope with computer-connected digital camera	Nikon	Ti	For live cell imaging; any standard fluorescent microscope can substitute, with phase contrast or DIC optics, capable of imaging green (fluorescein), orange-red to red (Texas Red), and far-red (Cy5) fluorescence, with 100X oil objective for highest resolution
Glass-bottom tissue culture dishes	MatTek Corporation	P35G-1.5-20-C	For live cell imaging. Dishes such as the MatTek allow microscopic visualization at 600X or 1,000X magnification through use of an inverted epifluorescent or confocal microscope.  These specific dishes are 3.5 cm nominal diameter, 3.3 cm inside diameter, with 20 mm diameter #1.5 thickness cover slips inserted into the bottoms.
Photoshop CS6	Adobe		Adobe photoshop or similar programs can be used to pseudocolor and merge light microscopic and fluorescent images.
Mathematica 10	Wolfam		For generation of two-dimensioonal isocontour isobolograms and three-dimensional surface isobolograms.