Ticks as potential vectors of Mycobacterium leprae: Use of tick cell lines to culture the bacilli and generate transgenic strains
Fig 4
Immunolocalization of Mycobacterium LAM cell wall antigen in Amblyomma sculptum larvae.
Larvae that hatched from eggs laid by A. sculptum females after artificial feeding with uninfected (C, D) or M. leprae-infected (A, B) rabbit blood were fixed and sectioned. Panels A and C were generated through merging red channel image (anti-LAM + anti-mouse Alexa 594) with blue channel image (DAPI nuclear staining). Panels B and D were generated by merging with differential interference contrast images. Small numbers of mycobacteria (arrows) can be seen inside the digestive tract of larvae derived from infected females. Images representative of nineteen larvae observed in three independent biological replicates. Scale bar represents 15μm.