High-throughput screening of caterpillars as a platform to study host-microbe interactions and enteric immunity.

ABSTRACT: Mammalian models of human disease are expensive and subject to ethical restrictions. Here, we present an independent platform for high-throughput screening, using larvae of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta, combining diagnostic imaging modalities for a comprehensive characterization of aberrant phenotypes. For validation, we use bacterial/chemical-induced gut inflammation to generate a colitis-like phenotype and identify significant alterations in morphology, tissue properties, and intermediary metabolism, which aggravate with disease progression and can be rescued by antimicrobial treatment. In independent experiments, activation of the highly conserved NADPH oxidase DUOX, a key mediator of gut inflammation, leads to similar, dose-dependent alterations, which can be attenuated by pharma

SUBMITTER: Windfelder AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9700799 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature