Fluorescent imaging of Cryptosporidium using a cooled charge couple device (CCD)

Abstract

Fluorogenic vital dyes can be used to highlight specific areas in Cryptosporidium. Oocysts and sporozoites of Cryptosporidium were labelled with fluorogenic vital dyes selected from the range of 27 tested and were imaged using a cooled, slow-scan, charge couple device (CCD). The detection capabilities of CCD described suggest that not only could CCD, with the development of appropriate software, be used for routine screening of water samples for Cryptosporidium oocysts, but also, by incorporating the appropriate fluorogenic dyes, following such complex processes as excystation. These techniques could also be applied to research on other biological systems using fluorogenic visualisation and CCD imaging to follow sub-cellular processes and events.