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Microbiology 145 (1999), 2803-2811
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Microbiology (1999), 145, 2803-2811.
© 1999 Society for General Microbiology

Pathogenicity and Medical Microbiology

The relationship between Helicobacter pylori motility, morphology and phase of growth: implications for gastric colonization and pathology

Mulugeta L. Worku1, Ramon L. Sidebotham1, Marjorie M. Walker2, Tajali Keshavarz3 and Q. Najma Karim1

Department of Medical Microbiology, Imperial College School of Medicine at St Mary’s, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK1
Department of Histopathology, Imperial College School of Medicine at St Mary’s, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK2
Department of Biotechnology, School of Biosciences, University of Westminster, New Cavendish Street, London W1M 8JS, UK3

Author for correspondence: Q. Najma Karim. Tel: +44 171 725 1074. Fax: +44 171 725 1856. e-mail: q.karim{at}ic.ac.uk

To explore the relationship between Helicobacter pylori motility, morphology and phase of growth, bacteria were isolated from antral biopsies of patients with duodenal ulcer or non-ulcer dyspepsia, and grown in liquid medium in batch and continuous culture systems. Motilities and morphologies of H. pylori in different phases of growth were examined with a Hobson BackTracker and by transmission electron microscopy. Morphologies of bacteria grown in vitro were also compared with those of bacteria in antral biopsies from patients with non-autoimmune gastritis. H. pylori had poor motility in lag phase, became highly motile in mid-exponential phase and lost motility in the decline phase of growth. Motilities of bacteria in the same phase of growth from patients with duodenal ulcer or non-ulcer dyspepsia were not significantly different. In the mid/late-exponential phase of growth bacteria had helical morphologies and multiple polar flagella, typical of H. pylori in the gastric mucus layer. In the decline phase of growth bacteria shed flagella, and had precoccoidal or coccoidal morphologies. These findings support the view that helical and coccoidal H. pylori are in different phases of growth with different roles in gastric colonization, indicate that bacterial motility per se is unlikely to be a determinant of H. pylori pathology, and suggest that H. pylori in the antral mucus layer is in a state of continuous (exponential phase) growth.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylor, bacterial motility, bacterial morphology, growth phase

Abbreviations: CLV, curvilinear velocity; PL, path length




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