AI Article Synopsis
- Brugia malayi are parasitic worms causing Lymphatic filariasis (LF), and current treatments mainly target the larval stages rather than adult worms.
- A new in vitro assay was developed to assess the motility of both adult B. malayi and microfilariae by analyzing various movement parameters like velocity and curvature when exposed to three different anthelmintic drugs.
- The study achieved detailed tracking of the worms' movements in complex postures, allowing for a better understanding of their behavior and responses to potential treatments.
Article Abstract
Brugia malayi are thread-like parasitic worms and one of the etiological agents of Lymphatic filariasis (LF). Existing anthelmintic drugs to treat LF are effective in reducing the larval microfilaria (mf) counts in human bloodstream but are less effective on adult parasites. To test potential drug candidates, we report a multi-parameter phenotypic assay based on tracking the motility of adult B. malayi and mf in vitro. For adult B. malayi, motility is characterized by the centroid velocity, path curvature, angular velocity, eccentricity, extent, and Euler Number. These parameters are evaluated in experiments with three anthelmintic drugs. For B. malayi mf, motility is extracted from the evolving body skeleton to yield positional data and bending angles at 74 key point. We achieved high-fidelity tracking of complex worm postures (self-occlusions, omega turns, body bending, and reversals) while providing a visual representation of pose estimates and behavioral attributes in both space and time scales.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11161659 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-62692-x | DOI Listing |
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