Info about Lyme round bodies (cyst form)

[Bagge]

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If there are no Bb cysts, then there are no Bb cyst-busting drugs. Will Bb bleb-busting drugs be next?
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[Camp Other]

For your consideration....

Source: http://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechte ... teria.html

Comment:

Dear Dr Schaechter,

I am an amateur so please excuse me if this question is nonsense.

I was wondering if filamenting bacteria could explain a strange phenomenon of the spirochete borrelia burgdorferi (agent of Lyme disease).

Bb is described as being capable of producing multiple new individuals from tiny coccoids which occur along its length - sometimes called a 'string of pearls'.

Could this process be similar to a filamented bacteria reproducing within the filament?

Many Thanks,
Peter Kemp

Response:

Peter,

Your question is entirely appropriate. From what I gather, B.b. "strings of pearls" consist of cells that have divided but not separated. They would be different than a non-septate filament. I hope this helps.

Elio

Thoughts?

This is from an ASM (American Society for Microbiology) blog, and not the blog of someone who knows little to nothing about Lyme disease.

[X-member]

For those of you that have a microscope and find such strings of pearls, wait a while longer and you will (most likely) see the pearls (granules/segments) separate, too!

[inmacdonald]

String Of Pearls -- the Images

__________________________________________________________________________
Dr Willy Burgdorfer and Mr Fred Hayes discussed the " String of Pearls"
in their publications from Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID,NIH, Hamilton Montana in the 1980's.
At that time, early in my research career, I was in almost daily Telephone contact
with the Lyme Disease Unit at the Rocky Mtn Lab.
The " String of Pearls" is the title of an American Jazz Standard , and it was the ideal
verbal descriptor for what is seen under the microscope.
Borrelia exhibit various types of "segmentation" which are discussed elsewhere on this
forum.
The String of Pearls is a unique descriptor.
Under the microscope,it looks like this:
---------------------------------------------------------------------

String of Pearls

String of Pearls good cutout.jpg (11.75 KiB) Viewed 8042 times

_________________________________________________________-
You will also see the String of Pearls in the Images from
Dr Alban and his colleagues in electron micrographs
of Borrelia burgdorferi undergoing encystification from
vegetative spiral forms.
____________________________________________________
Best,
A

[Camp Other]

Dr. MacDonald, can you please provide citations for this image and other publications on "string of pearls" formations?

How does division begin and proceed with these forms?

[X-member]

CO, you can find some info (but maybe not all answers) on the link below:

"Survival in Adverse Conditions
The Strategy of Morphological Variation
in Borrelia burgdorferi & Other Spirochetes"

http://www.lymeinfo.net/medical/LDAdverseConditions.pdf

"Cystic Form of Bb & Other Spirochetes: Advanced"

On page 24 maybe?

[X-member]

And you can maybe find some info in the topic below, too, CO:

"Segmentation in the Borrelia Genome Genetic Implications"

http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/view ... 686#p27060

[X-member]

http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/view ... f=5&t=3941

Claudia posted this in the topic above:

From: Spirochete antigens persist near cartilage after murine Lyme borreliosis therapy

It has been proposed that B. burgdorferi persists in the human host by transforming into cysts (25) because in vitro studies show that it can alter its morphology under stress conditions such as nutrient deprivation (26). Our real-time imaging captured spirochetes changing into spherical forms, but indirect evidence indicates that they are not bacterial cysts. The image sequences bear substantial similarity to in vitro observations of spirochete ingestion by phagocytes in both morphologic changes (Supplemental Video 6) and the time course for entry of ingested B. burgdorferi into phagolysosomes (∼20 minutes [ref. 10] vs. 25 minutes in Supplemental Videos 3 and 5). Formation of true bacterial cysts and endospores involves programmatic structural changes that occur over hours to days, not minutes, as we observed(27).

Very interesting!

[X-member]

"Borrelia burgdorferi evades the effects of Ceftriaxone TREATMENT in a mouse model of lyme borreliosis
by
Heta Yrjänäinen
2009"

http://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10 ... sequence=3

A quote (page 45):

Further, the persistence of B. burgdorferi has been suggested to be due to transformation of the spirochete into cystic forms. This phenomenon would give the spirochete a chance to overcome unfavorable environmental conditions (Brorson and Brorson 1997; Murgia and Cinco 2004). Cyst formation has been shown to occur in body fluids and in response to β-lactam antibiotics in vitro (Brorson and Brorson 1998; Murgia, Piazzetta et al. 2002), but its significance in vivo has yet to be demonstrated.

[X-member]

Information about gemma and other forms (Bela P Bozsik, Hungary):

http://lymerick.net/Bozsik-MMI-Bleb_Cysts.pdf