Back to Search
Start Over
Optical tweezers for studying taxis in parasites
- Source :
- Journal of Optics. 13:044015
- Publication Year :
- 2011
- Publisher :
- IOP Publishing, 2011.
-
Abstract
- In this work we present a methodology to measure force strengths and directions of living parasites with an optical tweezers setup. These measurements were used to study the parasites chemotaxis in real time. We observed behavior and measured the force of: (i) Leishmania amazonensis in the presence of two glucose gradients; (ii) Trypanosoma cruzi in the vicinity of the digestive system walls, and (iii) Trypanosoma rangeli in the vicinity of salivary glands as a function of distance. Our results clearly show a chemotactic behavior in every case. This methodology can be used to study any type of taxis, such as chemotaxis, osmotaxis, thermotaxis, phototaxis, of any kind of living microorganisms. These studies can help us to understand the microorganism sensory systems and their response function to these gradients.
- Subjects :
- Trypanosoma rangeli
Leishmania amazonensis
biology
Chemistry
business.industry
Taxis
Chemotaxis
biology.organism_classification
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Optics
Optical tweezers
parasitic diseases
Phototaxis
Biophysics
Thermotaxis
Trypanosoma cruzi
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20408986 and 20408978
- Volume :
- 13
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Optics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........4c8b30b9a0a8fe19fe6e8d2275444ea2