Bismuth-mediated disruption of the glycocalyx-cell wall of Helicobacter pylori : ultrastructural evidence for a mechanism of action for bismuth salts

The mechanism of bismuth's bactericidal activity against Helicobacter pylori was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM); time-kill kinetic methods evaluated the effect of excess divalent cations. TEM analysis of untreated H. pylori rev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy 1999-05, Vol.43 (5), p.659-666
Main Authors: STRATTON, C. W, WARNER, R. R, COUDRON, P. E, LILLY, N. A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology
Antibacterial agents
Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents
Biological and medical sciences
bismuth
Bismuth - pharmacology
Cell Wall - drug effects
Cell Wall - ultrastructure
Glycocalyx - drug effects
Glycocalyx - ultrastructure
Helicobacter pylori
Helicobacter pylori - drug effects
Helicobacter pylori - ultrastructure
Kinetics
Medical sciences
Microscopy, Electron - methods
Organometallic Compounds - pharmacology
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Time Factors
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The mechanism of bismuth's bactericidal activity against Helicobacter pylori was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM); time-kill kinetic methods evaluated the effect of excess divalent cations. TEM analysis of untreated H. pylori revealed a normal morphology. In contrast, H. pylori exposed to bismuth salts had swollen, distorted cells with membrane-cell wall blebbing and a cytoplasm containing electron-dense, sometimes crystalline aggregates. By AEM, swollen cells contained bismuth at the cell periphery, whereas bacillary forms contained cytoplasmic bismuth localizations. Time-kill studies showed that the bactericidal activity of bismuth could be prevented by pretreatment with divalent cations. The effects of bismuth salts on the glycocalyces-cell walls of H. pylori with reversal of bactericidal activity by divalent cations are identical to those produced by other polycationic agents on various gram-negative bacilli. We conclude that disruption of the glycocalyces-cell walls of H. pylori is one mechanism of action for bismuth salts.
ISSN:0305-7453
1460-2091
1460-2091
DOI:10.1093/jac/43.5.659