Female BALB/c wild type mice were obtained from Janvier
(Saint-Berthevin, France) and were housed at the animal facility of
the IMMIP in individually ventilated cages on a 12 h light/dark cycle
with food and water ad libidum. Mice were infected at 6–8 weeks
of age via exposure to the natural mite vector Ornithonyssus
bacoti containing infectious L. sigmodontis L3 larvae.36 (link) To compare the infection,
the same batch of mite-containing bedding was used to infect all animals
of one experiment. Then, 35 days post infection, time point adult
worms have developed within the thoracic cavity, and mice were treated
per oral gavage with the test compounds at concentrations indicated
in the result section. As a vehicle, 1% CMC + 0.1% Tween80 was used.
Negative controls were treated with vehicle only, and as a positive
control, mice were treated orally with doxycycline (Sigma) in 10%
DMSO/1× PBS. Necropsies were performed at 64–77 days post-infection
using an overdose of isoflurane (Baxter, Germany) and adult worms
were isolated from the thoracic cavity and peritoneum and enumerated.
Realtime PCR was performed from remaining female adult worms to quantify Wolbachia FtsZ and L. sigmodontis actin values by qRT-PCR as previously described.35 (link)
(Saint-Berthevin, France) and were housed at the animal facility of
the IMMIP in individually ventilated cages on a 12 h light/dark cycle
with food and water ad libidum. Mice were infected at 6–8 weeks
of age via exposure to the natural mite vector Ornithonyssus
bacoti containing infectious L. sigmodontis L3 larvae.36 (link) To compare the infection,
the same batch of mite-containing bedding was used to infect all animals
of one experiment. Then, 35 days post infection, time point adult
worms have developed within the thoracic cavity, and mice were treated
per oral gavage with the test compounds at concentrations indicated
in the result section. As a vehicle, 1% CMC + 0.1% Tween80 was used.
Negative controls were treated with vehicle only, and as a positive
control, mice were treated orally with doxycycline (Sigma) in 10%
DMSO/1× PBS. Necropsies were performed at 64–77 days post-infection
using an overdose of isoflurane (Baxter, Germany) and adult worms
were isolated from the thoracic cavity and peritoneum and enumerated.
Realtime PCR was performed from remaining female adult worms to quantify Wolbachia FtsZ and L. sigmodontis actin values by qRT-PCR as previously described.35 (link)