Fig. 3: Caecaloid—T. muris in vitro model reproduces in vivo infection.
From: Defining the early stages of intestinal colonisation by whipworms
a, b Representative confocal immunofluorescence (IF) images of caecaloids infected with whipworm L1 larvae for 24 h. a Orthogonal slice visualising enterocyte microvilli (villin staining in red) above the larvae (white arrowheads). Scale bars 20 μm. b Complete z-stack projection showing larvae infecting IECs within or adjacent to Ki-67+ (red) dividing centres. In green, the lectins UEA and SNA bind mucins in goblet cells; in blue and aqua, DAPI stains nuclei of IECs and larvae, respectively; and in white, phalloidin binds to F-actin. Scale bars 20 μm. IF imaging experiments on T. muris-infected caecaloids were done in triplicate across more than ten independent replicas using three caecaloid lines derived from three C57BL/6 mice. c Representative images of T. muris-infected caecaloids (72 h p.i) showing L1 larvae infecting cells within or adjacent to Ki-67+ (green) dividing centres, specifically Car1+ enterocyte progenitors and Muc2+ DSCs (magenta) visualised by IF and mRNA ISH by HCR. In white DAPI stains nuclei. Scale bars 15 μm. HCR imaging experiments on T. muris-infected caecaloids were done in triplicate across two independent replicas using two caecaloid lines derived from two C57BL/6 mice.
