Door: Eva Sapi et al
24 Oktober 2012
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/articl ... ne.0048277
Abstract
Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, has long been known to be capable of forming aggregates and colonies. It was recently demonstrated that Borrelia burgdorferi aggregate formation dramatically changes the in vitro response to hostile environments by this pathogen. In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that these aggregates are indeed biofilms, structures whose resistance to unfavorable conditions are well documented. We studied Borrelia burgdorferi for several known hallmark features of biofilm, including structural rearrangements in the aggregates, variations in development on various substrate matrices and secretion of a protective extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) matrix using several modes of microscopic, cell and molecular biology techniques. The atomic force microscopic results provided evidence that multilevel rearrangements take place at different stages of aggregate development, producing a complex, continuously rearranging structure. Our results also demonstrated that Borrelia burgdorferi is capable of developing aggregates on different abiotic and biotic substrates, and is also capable of forming floating aggregates. Analyzing the extracellular substance of the aggregates for potential exopolysaccharides revealed the existence of both sulfated and non-sulfated/carboxylated substrates, predominately composed of an alginate with calcium and extracellular DNA present. In summary, we have found substantial evidence that Borrelia burgdorferi is capable of forming biofilm in vitro. Biofilm formation by Borrelia species might play an important role in their survival in diverse environmental conditions by providing refuge to individual cells.
HARD SCIENCE ON LYME: Trials and tribulations of getting Borrelia biofilms acccepted for publication
Door: Alan MacDonald, MD
02 Augustus 2013
https://www.lymedisease.org/the-rest-of ... blication/
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It took six years of tedious and gut-wrenching work to get the article into a prestigious journal, PLOS ONE. The acceptance for the article to be published was, like some births, not an easy delivery. The original manuscript reviews required mandatory revisions – non-negotiable revisions. The most onerous of these was the directive by the editorial staff to remove any and all language from the manuscript which connected the significance of biofilms of Borrelia to human medicine, human disease, and to Lyme disease specifically. They also required us to remove any and all language relating to attitudes toward the proper treatment of Lyme disease and related Borrelia infections. We acceded to these demands.
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Two weeks after the PLOS ONE publication of the Sapi biofilm In vitro paper, the Sapi Group at the University of New Haven in West Haven, CT, made the announcement that indeed, Borrelia biofilms were detected under the microscope in a human skin biopsy from a European patient with cutaneous borreliosis.
Sapi’s group also started to look into the tick gut, to see if Borrelia biofilms are there in the living tick, as a measure to maintain the Borrelia through a period of starvation, before it bites its next human victim. This work has also been paradigm-shifting.
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