Plasma membrane integrity (PMI) safeguards cellular homeostasis but can be disrupted by bacterial pore-forming toxins (PFTs), necessitating complete pore repair for host survival. Here, we present an in vivo protocol for monitoring apical plasma membrane perforation and its restoration in intestinal epithelial cells of C. elegans following intoxication with the PFT Cry5B. We describe steps for utilizing membrane-impermeable dyes, such as propidium iodide (PI), as a functional readout to assess PMI and quantitatively evaluate pore-repair capacity in C. elegans . For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Hsieh, HC et al. 1
Hsieh et al. (Wed,) studied this question.