Practical and low cost whole-organism motility assay: A step-by-step protocol

Sarah Preston; Abdul Jabbar; Cameron Nowell; Anja Joachim; Baerbel Ruttkowski; Tony Cardno; Andreas Hofmann; Robin B Gasser

doi:10.1016/j.mcp.2015.08.005

Practical and low cost whole-organism motility assay: A step-by-step protocol

Mol Cell Probes. 2016 Feb;30(1):13-7. doi: 10.1016/j.mcp.2015.08.005. Epub 2015 Sep 10.

Authors

Sarah Preston¹, Abdul Jabbar¹, Cameron Nowell², Anja Joachim³, Baerbel Ruttkowski³, Tony Cardno², Andreas Hofmann⁴, Robin B Gasser⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
² Monash University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), Monash University, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.
³ Institute of Parasitology, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärstrasse 1, A-1210 Vienna, Austria.
⁴ Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia; Structural Chemistry Program, Eskitis Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland 4111, Australia.
⁵ Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 26365227
DOI: 10.1016/j.mcp.2015.08.005

Abstract

Here, we provide a step-by-step protocol for a practical and low cost whole-organism assay for the screening of chemical compounds for activity against parasitic worms. This assay has considerable advantages over conventional methods, mainly in relation to ease of use, throughput, time and cost. It is readily suited to the screening of hundreds to thousands of compounds for subsequent hit-to-lead optimisation, and should be applicable to many different parasites and other organisms commensurate with the size of wells in the microtiter plates used for phenotypic screening.

Keywords: Drug screening; Motility assay; Nematode; Parasite; Step-by-step protocol.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Antinematodal Agents / isolation & purification
Antinematodal Agents / pharmacology*
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / economics
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / instrumentation
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / methods
High-Throughput Screening Assays / economics
High-Throughput Screening Assays / instrumentation
High-Throughput Screening Assays / methods*
Larva / drug effects
Larva / physiology
Locomotion / drug effects*
Locomotion / physiology
Reproducibility of Results
Strongylida / drug effects*
Strongylida / physiology

Substances

Antinematodal Agents