JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments
Microbiology
0 views • 3:14 min • January 30th, 2026
Begin with an anesthetized mouse and, using a catheter, inject a suspension of pathogenic bacteria into the urinary bladder.
These bacteria carry a bioluminescent operon, which enables autonomous light production to track the infection.
The bladder’s inner lining is a specialized epithelium that separates the lumen from the underlying tissue.
The bacterial adhesion proteins bind to the glycoprotein receptors on the host epithelial surface, triggering receptor-mediated endocytosis.
The internalized bacteria replicate to form dense intracellular bacterial communities.
The bacteria express the bioluminescent operon, producing a luciferase enzyme and an enzyme complex that synthesizes the luciferase substrate.
Luciferase oxidizes the substrate to emit visible light.
Position the mouse inside the imaging chamber and capture the bioluminescent signal.
Select a region of interest and quantify the bioluminescence intensity.
Monitor this signal over time as a real-time indicator of bacterial load and infection progression.
Open the BLI acquisition software and click on Initialize in the imaging device to test the camera and stage controller system and to cool the charge-coupled device camera to minus
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