Quantifying Intestinal Bacterial Load in Zebrafish Infected with Vibrio cholerae

Source: Nag, D., et al. Quantifying Vibrio cholerae Colonization and Diarrhea in the Adult Zebrafish Model. J. Vis. Exp. (2018)This video demonstrates a protocol to quantify the intestinal bacterial load in adult zebrafish infected with an antibiotic-resistant strain of Vibrio cholerae. Following euthanasia and dissection, the intestinal tract is isolated, homogenized with glass beads, and processed to release the bacteria. The resulting homogenate is plated onto a selective medium, and blue-colored colonies expressing β-galactosidase are counted to estimate the bacterial burden.