Application: Monitoring Bacterial Toxin Activity via Morphological Cell Changes

Real-time cell behavior reveals toxin effects – with precision and ease

Bacterial toxins, such as those produced by Clostridioides difficile, play a key role in diseases like
pseudomembranous colitis. Once internalized, these toxins enzymatically disrupt cellular signaling and
morphology – visible through distinct shape changes in adherent cells.

This application highlights the use of zenCELL owl to monitor cell intoxication in real time, using
morphological changes as a specific readout for toxin activity.

Experimental Setup

Two experimental approaches were conducted:

Objective: Visualize and quantify intoxication kinetics of Vero cells exposed to C. difficile TcdA toxin.

Cell model Vero cells (African green monkey kidney epithelial cells)
Assay setup 24-well plates, incubated at 37°C
Treatment TcdA at 5 ng/mL
Imaging interval Every 30 minutes for 15 hours
Microscope zenCELL owl live-cell incubator microscope

Morphological Monitoring of Cell Intoxication

Within the first hour, cells exposed to TcdA begin to round up – a hallmark morphological change
indicating Rho protein glucosylation and cytoskeletal collapse.

Time-lapse observations: – 1 h: Early onset of cell rounding – 3 h: Increased frequency of rounded
cells – 8 h: Widespread intoxication across the well

These effects were continuously documented using zenCELL owl, providing high-resolution, noninvasive tracking of toxin-induced morphology changes.

Why zenCELL owl?

Operates directly in the incubator – no disturbance to conditions

24-camera setup for parallel sample observation

Automated time-lapse imaging and analysis

Easy-to-use hardware and intuitive software

Ideal for monitoring cytotoxicity, drug response & functional assays

Conclusion

zenCELL owl streamlines morphological assays by combining incubation-stable monitoring with real-time image acquisition. Perfect for studying dynamic processes like bacterial intoxication with minimal lab intervention.

Developed by:

Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Ulm University Medical Center
Authors: Maria Braune, Katharina Ernst

Explore zenCELL owl

Learn more about our compact 24-channel incubator microscope for real-time, reproducible, and automated cell culture monitoring:

www.zencellowl.com
Follow us on LinkedIn: zenCELL owl / innoME GmbH

Application: Monitoring Bacterial Toxin Activity via Morphological Cell Changes

Real-time cell behavior reveals toxin effects – with precision and ease

Experimental Setup

Objective: Visualize and quantify intoxication kinetics of Vero cells exposed to C. difficile TcdA toxin.

Morphological Monitoring of Cell Intoxication

Why zenCELL owl?

Conclusion

Developed by:

Explore zenCELL owl

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