Mills B, Megia-Fernandez A, Norberg D, Duncan S, Marshall A, Akram AR, Quinn T, Young I, Bruce AM, Scholefield E, Williams GOS, Krstajić N, Choudhary TR, Parker HE, Tanner MG, Harrington K, Wood HAC, Birks TA, Knight JC, Haslett C, Dhaliwal K, Bradley M, Ucuncu M, Stone JM.
Abstract
Purpose: The relentless rise in antimicrobial resistance is a major societal challenge and requires, as part of its solution, a better understanding of bacterial colonization and infection. To facilitate this, we developed a highly efficient no-wash red optical molecular imaging agent that enables the rapid, selective, and specific visualization of Gram-positive bacteria through a bespoke optical fiber-based delivery/imaging endoscopic device.
Methods: We rationally designed a no-wash, red, Gram-positive-specific molecular imaging agent (Merocy-Van) based on vancomycin and an environmental merocyanine dye. We demonstrated the specificity and utility of the imaging agent in escalating in vitro and ex vivo whole human lung models (n = 3), utilizing a bespoke fiber-based delivery and imaging device, coupled to a wide-field, two-color endomicroscopy system.
Results: The imaging agent (Merocy-Van) was specific to Gram-positive bacteria and enabled no-wash imaging of S. aureus within the alveolar space of whole ex vivo human lungs within 60 s of delivery into the field-of-view, using the novel imaging/delivery endomicroscopy device.
Conclusion: This platform enables the rapid and specific detection of Gram-positive bacteria in the human lung.