Quantifying Vibrio cholerae Colonization and Diarrhea in the Adult Zebrafish Model

Summary

Zebrafish are a natural Vibrio cholerae host and can be used to recapitulate and study the entire infectious cycle from colonization to transmission. Here, we demonstrate how to assess V. cholerae colonization levels and quantify diarrhea in zebrafish.

Abstract

Vibrio cholerae is best known as the infectious agent that causes the human disease cholera. Outside the human host, V. cholerae primarily exists in the aquatic environment, where it interacts with a variety of higher aquatic species. Vertebrate fish are known to be an environmental host and are a potential V. cholerae reservoir in nature. Both V. cholerae and the teleost fish species Danio rerio, commonly known as zebrafish, originate from the Indian subcontinent, suggesting a long-standing interaction in aquatic environments. Zebrafish are an ideal model organism for studying many aspects of biology, including infectious diseases. Zebrafish can be easily and rapidly colonized by V. cholerae after exposure in water. Intestinal colonization by V. cholerae leads to the production of diarrhea and the excretion of replicated V. cholerae. These excreted bacteria can then go on to colonize new fish hosts. Here, we demonstrate how to assess V. cholerae-intestinal colonization in zebrafish and how to quantify V. cholerae-induced zebrafish diarrhea. The colonization model should be useful to researchers who are studying whether genes of interest may be important for host colonization and/or for environmental survival. The quantification of zebrafish diarrhea should be useful to researchers studying any intestinal pathogen who are interested in exploring zebrafish as a model system.

Introduction

Vibrio cholerae is an aquatic, Gram-negative bacterium that causes the human disease cholera as well as sporadic diarrhea^1,2. V. cholerae is found in the environment in many areas of the globe, often associated with other aquatic organisms. These associating organisms include plankton, insect egg masses, shellfish, and vertebrate fish species^3,4,5,6,7. Several studies have isolated V. cholerae from the intestinal tracts of....

Protocol

All methods described here have been approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Wayne State University. This method was first described in Runft et al.¹²

1. Determination of Intestinal Colonization Levels

NOTE: Intestinal colonization is the most useful metric in the zebrafish model as it can be used to compare the relative fitness of various V. cholerae strains or the effects of mutations or gene knockouts.

1. Inoculation of zebrafish by immersion
   NOTE: This means of exposure resembles the natural course of inf....

Results

V. cholerae colonization of zebrafish intestinal tracts

To provide an example of the typical colonization levels we observe, we inoculated 5 x 10⁶ CFU of the pandemic EL Tor V. cholerae strain N16961 in 200 mL of water in a beaker containing several zebrafish. After 6 h of infection, the fish were washed in fresh water and transferred into a beaker of 200 mL of autoclaved infection water as described in.......

Discussion

The zebrafish is a relatively new model for studying V. cholerae but holds much promise for the future discovery of previously unknown aspects of V. cholerae biology and pathogenesis^11,12,13. The adult zebrafish model has the advantages of being both a natural V. cholerae host that contains intact, mature intestinal microbiota and an environmental model. Disadvantages of the model are that the two majo.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Instrument
Shaker incubator	New Brunswick Scientific, Edison, NJ	Excella E25
Incubator	NUAIRE, Plymouth, MN	Auto Flow
Spectrophotometer	Thermo, Waltham, MA	Geaesys 6
Vortex homogenizer	Minibeadbeater24	112011
Weighing Machine	Ohaus, Columbia, MD	Adventurer Pro
Heat Stirer	Corning, Corning, NY	PC-420D
Burner
automated colony counter	REVSCI	120417B
Materials
400 ml glass beakers	Pyrex
perforated lids	Microtip holder with holes from tip box
disposable plastic spoons	Office Depot, Boca Raton, FL	D15-25-7008
Fish Tank System	Aquaneering, San Diego, CA
RO Water Purifier	Aqua FX	TK001
Fish net	Marina
fish food	Tetra fin
Brine Shrimp	Red jungle brand	O.S.I. pro 80
Styrofoam board
Pins
Scalpels	Fine Scientific tools, Foster City, CA	10000-10
Forceps	Fine Scientific tools, Foster City, CA	11223-20
Vannas scissors	Fine Scientific tools, Foster City, CA	15000-11
2 ml screw cap tubes	Fisher Scientific, Hampton, NH	02-681-375
1 mm glass beads	Bio Spec	11079110
Glass beads for spreading	Sigma, St. Louis, MO	18406-500G
Petri plate	Fisher Brand, Hampton, NH	FB0875713
1.5 ml centrifuge tube	Midsci, Valley Park, MO	AVSS1700
50 ml centrifuge tube	Corning Falcon, Corning, NY	352098
Test tubes	Pyrex	9820
Glass Pipette	Fisher Brand, Hampton, NH	13675K
Micro pipettes	Sartorius Biohit, Göttingen, Germany	m1000/m200/m20
Tips	Genesee Scientific, San Diego, CA	24-150RS/24-412
Chemicals
Instant Ocean salts
phosphate buffered saline	VWR Life Science, Radnor, PA	K813-500ml
Tricaine (ethyl 3-aminobenzoate methanesulfonate salt	Sigma, St. Louis, MO	A5040
5-Bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside	Sigma, St. Louis, MO	10651745001
Schiff’s reagent	Sigma, St. Louis, MO	84655-250 mL
periodic acid	Fisher Scientific, Hampton, NH	10450-60-9
Mucin from porcine stomach	Sigma, St. Louis, MO	M2378-100G
Bovine serum albumin	Fisher Scientific, Hampton, NH	9046-46-8
Pierce 660nm Protein Assay Reagent	Thermo, Waltham, MA	22660
LB medium
Trypton	BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA	211705
Teast Extract	BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA	212750
NACL	Fisher Scientific, Hampton, NH	BP358-212
Agar	BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA	214010
TCBS Agar	BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA	265020
DCLS Agar	Sigma, St. Louis, MO	70135-500gm
Software
Microsoft office
Prism 5