Alshehri, Muhanna and Alqahtani, Saeed and Murali, Pranitha and Delaney, Christopher and Johnston, William and Brown, Jason L. (2025) Organotypic tissue model systems for investigating host-pathogen interactions in vitro. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 28 (217): e67487. ISSN 1940-087X
AI Summary:
Epithelial models provide useful in vitro systems for preclinical investigatory studies into simple or complex host-pathogen interactions.AI Topics:
Recapitulating the host-pathogen interface at the epithelial or mucosal barrier in vitro remains a challenging prospect for infection biologists. While in-house grown 2D epithelial monolayers lack true representation of the in vivo situation, commercially available tissue models are often overlooked due to their cost and practicality. However, with careful planning, such models provide reproducible platforms for a vast array of different applications. Here, we report the use of epithelial models that can be utilized for a wide variety of experimental purposes to investigate host-pathogen interactions in various ecological niches, such as the oral cavity, skin, and vaginal mucosa. From simple planktonic cells to complex biofilm co-culture, epithelial models are used to assess microbial adherence and invasion, and to evaluate the host response at a transcriptional and/or protein level, with scope for more detailed profiling using different omics approaches. Furthermore, these biological systems can be used as more accurate test beds for evaluating conventional and novel antimicrobial activity in a complex host-pathogen microenvironment in vitro. The protocols described herein document how models are handled upon arrival and prepared in the laboratory for co-culture stimulation with biofilm communities. The methods detail how experimental outputs are achieved from the model systems, including the processing of tissue, the co-culture setup, and data generation. These experiments include host gene expression through single- and multiplex qPCR analyses and inflammatory protein detection using ELISAs. In conclusion, epithelial models provide useful in vitro systems for preclinical investigatory studies into simple or complex host-pathogen interactions.
Alshehri, Muhanna
Author
Alshehri, Muhanna and Alqahtani, Saeed and Murali, Pranitha and Delaney, Christopher and Johnston, William and Brown, Jason L. (2025) Organotypic tissue model systems for investigating host-pathogen interactions in vitro. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 28 (217): e67487. ISSN 1940-087X
See full publications listAlqahtani, Saeed
Author
Alshehri, Muhanna and Alqahtani, Saeed and Murali, Pranitha and Delaney, Christopher and Johnston, William and Brown, Jason L. (2025) Organotypic tissue model systems for investigating host-pathogen interactions in vitro. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 28 (217): e67487. ISSN 1940-087X
See full publications listMurali, Pranitha
Author
Alshehri, Muhanna and Alqahtani, Saeed and Murali, Pranitha and Delaney, Christopher and Johnston, William and Brown, Jason L. (2025) Organotypic tissue model systems for investigating host-pathogen interactions in vitro. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 28 (217): e67487. ISSN 1940-087X
See full publications listDelaney, Christopher
Author
Ware, Alicia and Johnston, William and Delaney, Christopher and Butcher, Mark C. and Ramage, Gordon and Price, Lesley and Butcher, John and Kean, Ryan (2025) Dry surface biofilm formation by Candida auris facilitates persistence and tolerance to sodium hypochlorite. APMIS: Journal of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, 133 (4): e70022. ISSN 0903-4641
Alshehri, Muhanna and Alqahtani, Saeed and Murali, Pranitha and Delaney, Christopher and Johnston, William and Brown, Jason L. (2025) Organotypic tissue model systems for investigating host-pathogen interactions in vitro. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 28 (217): e67487. ISSN 1940-087X
Delaney, Christopher and Short, Bryn and Rajendran, Ranjith and Kean, Ryan and Burgess, Karl and Williams, Craig and Munro, Carol A. and Ramage, Gordon (2023) An integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic approach to investigate the heterogeneous Candida albicans biofilm phenotype. Biofilm, 5: 100112. ISSN 2590-2075
See full publications listJohnston, William
Author
Alshehri, Muhanna and Alqahtani, Saeed and Murali, Pranitha and Delaney, Christopher and Johnston, William and Brown, Jason L. (2025) Organotypic tissue model systems for investigating host-pathogen interactions in vitro. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 28 (217): e67487. ISSN 1940-087X
Rosier, Bob T. and Johnston, William and Carda-Diéguez, Miguel and Simpson, Annabel and Cabello-Yeves, Elena and Piela, Krystyna and Reilly, Robert and Artacho, Alejandro and Easton, Chris and Burleigh, Mia and Culshaw, Shauna and Mira, Alex (2024) Publisher Correction: Nitrate reduction capacity of the oral microbiota is impaired in periodontitis: potential implications for systemic nitric oxide availability. International Journal of Oral Science, 16: 8. ISSN 1674-2818
See full publications listBrown, Jason Lee
Author
Allkja, Jontana and Bakri, Ahmed and Short, Bryn and Gilmour, Andrew and Brown, Jason L. and Bal, Abhijit M. and Newby, Kelly J.M. and Jenkins, Toby and Short, Rob D. and Williams, Craig and Ramage, Gordon (2025) Investigating the prevalence of fungi in diabetic ulcers: an under-recognised contributor to polymicrobial biofilms. APMIS: Journal of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, 133 (4): e70025. ISSN 0903-4641
Alshehri, Muhanna and Alqahtani, Saeed and Murali, Pranitha and Delaney, Christopher and Johnston, William and Brown, Jason L. (2025) Organotypic tissue model systems for investigating host-pathogen interactions in vitro. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 28 (217): e67487. ISSN 1940-087X
Baz, Abdullah and Bakri, Ahmed and Butcher, Mark and Short, Bryn and Ghimire, Bhagirath and Gaur, Nishtha and Jenkins, Toby and Short, Robert D. and Riggio, Marcello and Williams, Craig and Ramage, Gordon and Brown, Jason L. (2023) Staphylococcus aureus strains exhibit heterogenous tolerance to direct cold atmospheric plasma therapy. Biofilm, 5: 100123. ISSN 2590-2075
See full publications listAvailable under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
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