title: Changes in Helicobacter pylori ultrastructure and antigens during conversion from the bacillary to the coccoid form.
abstract: In vitro, Helicobacter pylori converts from a bacillary to a full coccoid form via an intermediate U-shaped form. Organisms with a full coccoid form keep a double membrane system, a polar membrane, and invagination structures. Western blots (immunoblots) of sera from colonized patients show that some high-molecular-mass antigenic fractions are expressed only in coccoids. Conversely, fractions of 30 and 94 kDa were more intensively detected in the bacillary forms. These results suggest that (i) coccoid conversion is not a degenerative transformation and (ii) antigens specific to the coccoid forms are expressed in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Microbiologie A, Centre Hospitalier Regional Universitaire-La Miletrie, Poitiers, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benaissa
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Babin
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Quellard
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pezennec
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cenatiempo
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Fauchère
mesh_terms: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006801:Humans; D008854:Microscopy, Electron
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial