Valeria
Righi1,2, Caterina Constantinou3, Meenu Kesarwani3,
Laurence G. Rahme3, A Aria Tzika1,2
1NMR Surgical Laboratory, Department of
Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Shriners Burns Institute, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; 2Department of
Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Athinoula
A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Boston, MA, United States; 3Molecular
Surgery Laboratory, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and
Shriners Burns Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
We
tested the feasibility of H1 High Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HRMAS) NMR
in determining metabolic profiles of live bacteria. We used Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, a human opportunistic pathogen responsible for chronic and acute
infections, and a major cause of morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis
patients. We found that HRMAS is powerful technique for monitoring the
metabolic fingerprint of in vivo models, including live bacterial cells. This
technique may prove to be a helpful tool in gene function validation, the
study of pathogenesis mechanisms and the testing of anti-bacterial agents.