Prilosec is a proton pump inhibitor.Susceptibility of motile and cystic forms of Borrelia burgdorferi to ranitidine bismuth citrate.
Brorson O, Brorson SH.
Department of Microbiology, Vestfold Sentralsykehus, Tonsberg, Norway.
Gastrointestinal symptoms accompanying Lyme disease have not been considered in the treatment of Lyme patients yet. Here we examine the effect of ranitidine bismuth citrate (RBC) on motile and cystic forms of Borrelia burgdorferi in vitro, to determine whether it could cure this bacterial infection in the gastrointestinal tract.
When motile forms of B. burgdorferi were exposed to RBC for 1 week at 37 degrees C, the minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) was > 64 mg/ml. At 30 degrees C, the MBC was > 256 mg/ml. When the incubation lasted for 2 weeks at 37 degrees C, the MBC dropped to > 2 mg/ml. Bismuth aggregates were present on the surface of B. burgdorferi when RBC > or = MBC, as shown by transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
Cystic forms of B. burgdorferi, exposed to RBC for 2 weeks at 37 degrees C, were examined by cultivation in BSK-H medium (Sigma B3528). They were stained with acridine orange (pH 6.4, pH 7.4) and studied by TEM. The MBC for RBC for young cystic forms (1 day old) and old cysts (8 months old) was estimated to be > 0.125 mg/ml and > 2 mg/ml, respectively.
Bismuth aggregates were attached to the cysts and, in some, the pin-shaped aggregates penetrated the cyst wall. The bismuth aggregates also bound strongly to blebs and granules of B. burgdorferi when RBC > or = MBC.
When B. burgdorferi is responsible for gastrointestinal symptoms, bismuth compounds may be candidates for eradication of the bacterium from the gastrointestinal tract.
PMID: 12051564
H. pylori Cytotoxin Inhibits T Cell Activation
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Aug 21 - Helicobacter pylori is known to produce a cytotoxin, called VacA, that causes vacuolation in epithelial cells. Now, new data indicate that VacA can also block proliferation of T cells, a finding that may help explain the chronic nature of H. pylori infections.
In a study reported in the August 22nd issue of Science, Dr. Rainer Haas and colleagues, from the Max von Pettenkofer-Institute fur Hygiene and Medizinische Mikrobiologie, infected T cells with wild-type H. pylori or with strains lacking the genes for virulence factors, such as VacA and CagA--another pathogenic protein.
When VacA was present, T cell activation and proliferation was inhibited, the authors note. VacA seemed to cause this effect by inducing a G1/S cell cycle arrest. Specifically, the cytotoxin interfered with an IL-2 signaling pathway by blocking the enzyme calcineurin, ultimately leading to decreased IL-2 transcription.
The ability of VacA to inhibit calcineurin is similar to that of FK506 (tacrolimus), a widely used immunosuppressive agent, the researchers note.
The results suggest that VacA "might act as a 'long distance weapon' to efficiently block proliferation of T cells in the local gastric environment," the authors state. "For H. pylori, classified as type I carcinogen, a mechanism of local immune suppression might also be an important instrument for induction of malignant" disease, they add.
Science 2003;301:1099-1102.
Ask your doctor about the possibly of taking Zantac (1) and the usual dose of Pepto Bismol before bed for one week ONLY. Be sure to take probiotics with a full glass of water one hour before breakfast and before lunch.
Sometimes the above has to periodically be repeated.
We are all exposed to the pathogens on occasion (including H. pylori).
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