[ 08-02-2010, 11:22 AM: Message edited by: feelfit ]
Posts: 3975 | From usa | Registered: Aug 2007
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janet thomas
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7122
posted
Thanks for finding and posting this.
-------------------- I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice but only my personal experience and opinion. Posts: 2001 | From NJ | Registered: Mar 2005
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nenet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13174
posted
Thanks for sharing the article! This is very interesting. You might get more readers/responses if you put the title or a description of it in the subject line - I almost didn't read it because it was so vague and I don't have much time.
My biggest concern (still) is that I sure wish they would recognize the important infectious role of the other forms and image them during transmission as well.
Here's the abstract summary of the study for those who might have trouble reading the formatting:
Live imaging reveals a biphasic mode of dissemination of Borrelia burgdorferi within ticks
"Lyme disease is caused by transmission of the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi from ticks to humans.
Although much is known about B. burgdorferi replication, the routes and mechanisms by which it disseminates within the tick remain unclear.
To better understand this process, we imaged live, infectious B. burgdorferi expressing a stably integrated, constitutively expressed GFP reporter.
Using isolated tick midguts and salivary glands, we observed B. burgdorferi progress through the feeding tick via what we believe to be a novel, biphasic mode of dissemination.
In the first phase, replicating spirochetes, positioned at varying depths throughout the midgut at the onset of feeding, formed networks of nonmotile organisms that advanced toward the basolateral surface of the epithelium while adhering to differentiating, hypertrophying, and detaching epithelial cells.
In the second phase of dissemination, the nonmotile spirochetes transitioned into motile organisms that penetrated the basement membrane and entered the hemocoel, then migrated to and entered the salivary glands.
We designated the first phase of dissemination ``adherence-mediated migration'' and provided evidence that it involves the inhibition of spirochete motility by one or more diffusible factors elaborated by the feeding tick midgut.
Our studies, which we believe are the first to relate the transmission dynamics of spirochetes to the complex morphological and developmental changes that the midgut and salivary glands undergo during engorgement,
challenge the conventional viewpoint that dissemination of Lyme disease-causing spirochetes within ticks is exclusively motility driven."
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