RB formation in the test tube is induced by penicillin, especially in the presence of glycine, a protein amino acid and therefore food. Relevant observations contributed to the PhD dissertation and patent application of Belichenko (18), a student of medical microbiologist Igor Bazikov, Stavropol, Russia. Decrease in penicillin concentration induced reversion of round bodies to active helical spirochetes (18). Russian research (19) and ours (5, 20, 21) on spirochetal life history suggests that the course of Lyme disease, and probably other spirochetoses such as syphilis, is altered by penicillin and other antibiotics.
We report in vitro inhibition and destruction of B. burgdorferi (helices, RBs = “cysts”) by the antibiotic Tigecycline (TG; Wyeth), a glycylcycline protein-synthesis inhibitor (of both 30S and 70S ribosome subunits). Studies of the pleiomorphic life history stages in response to TG of both B. burgdorferi and Treponema pallidum in vivo and in vitro are strongly encouraged.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774030/
Henriëtte