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The bacteria behind chlamydia can colonize the gut , and from that concealing place , they may act as a source of repeated infections , fresh research using miniature intestines suggests .
Chlamydia is themost common sexually impart infection(STI ) worldwide . The form of the infection that affects humans is due to a species of bacterium known asChlamydia trachomatis .
A new study has shown that the bacteria that cause chlamydia in humans can infect cells in the gut, pictured in high resolution in this image. The bacteria are shown in green.
The disease most oftenaffects the venereal region , sometimes stimulate pain and unusual dismissal from the vagina or penis . However , over the years , research in miceand variousclinical reportsin humanshave suggest thatC. trachomatismay also be able to infect the human digestive tract . This think of that , theoretically , the bacteria could enshroud in the gut and then make repeated venereal infections , whichcommonly occur in patientsdespitetreatment with antibiotics .
Yet , until now , scientists have n’t been able to test this possibility in human cells .
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Now , in a new bailiwick published Thursday ( Aug. 22 ) in the journalPLOS Pathogens , researchers used miniature , lab - grown models of unlike parts of the human digestive piece of ground to meditate whetherC. trachomatiscould indeed infect the intestine .
To make these models , the team used chemical substance to coaxstem cellstaken from grownup donor to raise into miniature , 3D replica of full - size of it organs . These included the enceinte and diminished gut . These types of tiny manakin , known as " organoids , " have become an increasingly democratic tool for scientists to study physiological systems and totest new drugs . Organoids can be made to more accurately recapitulatethe complex body part and function of human variety meat , compare with other mobile phone - ground or animate being models .
Once the digestive organoids had grown to a large enough size of it , the research worker extracted specific cadre called primary intestinal epithelial cells , whichline the surface of the intestines . They then acquire these cells in single layers in a research lab dish , to expand their numbers , before infecting them withC. trachomatis . They zoomed in on this fundamental interaction under a high - result microscope .
The researchers showed thatC. trachomatiswas able to enter the cells . In some case , the development of the bacterium was restricted , so instead of get a full - fuck up infection , C. trachomatisformed orotund , on an irregular basis - shaped structures called aberrant bodies . These aberrant bodies are thought to be able-bodied topersist within innkeeper cells in the body .
" The gut could represent an overlooked web site of contagion where chlamydia could potentially persist and repeatedly spread to the genital tract,“Pargev Hovhannisyan , lead study author and a doctoral educatee at the University of Würzburg in Germany , told Live Science in an electronic mail .
" If so , this could compromise the success of the antibiotic treatment for genital infections . "
In a separate experimentation , the squad also showed thatC. trachomatisrelied on a lock of DNA , known as aplasmid , to infect and uprise within epithelial cells . This plasmid is fuck as Pgp3 and is made by the bacteria itself . After trying and failing to taint cell with modified strains of the bacterium that did n’t acquit Pgp3 , the squad actualize the microbe ’s reliance on the plasmid DNA .
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The squad recognize several limitation of the study , including that they search only at howC. trachomatisinfects isolate epithelial cells , rather than those embedded in an organoid . There are many constituent in the homo gut , such as other microbes and cells of theimmune system , that could aid spoil infection of these electric cell in real liveliness , they noted . Therefore , it ’s still not completely certain that these infection happen in human patients .
Nevertheless , the models that the scientist created should avail alleviate future enquiry into the potential role of chlamydia transmission in the intestine , the team said .
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