Conversion of Borrelia garinii cystic forms to motile spirochetes in vivo

From the study below:
"Motile spirochetes were successfully isolated from 2 out of 15 mice inoculated intraperitoneally with cystic forms, showing the infectivity of the cysts."

So how can the IDSA state that "The cystic forms of B. burgdorferi
that have been seen under certain growth conditions in vitro have not
been shown to have any clinical significance"?

And they refer to ONLY ONE study from 2000, and the authors of that study write: "We have not yet investigated the surface properties of cysts; thus, the clinical significance of these forms is not clear".

DUH!!

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APMIS. 2001 May;109(5):383-8.

Conversion of Borrelia garinii cystic forms to motile spirochetes in vivo.

* Gruntar I,
* Malovrh T,
* Murgia R,
* Cinco M.

Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology, Veterinary Faculty, Ljubljana, Slovenia. gruntaig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cystic forms (also called spheroplasts or starvation forms) and their ability to reconvert into normal motile spirochetes have already been demonstrated in the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex. The aim of this study was to determine whether motile B. garinii could develop from cystic forms, not only in vitro but also in vivo, in cyst-inoculated mice. The cysts prepared in distilled water were able to reconvert into normal motile spirochetes at any time during in vitro experiments, lasting one month, even after freeze-thawing of the cysts. Motile spirochetes were successfully isolated from 2 out of 15 mice inoculated intraperitoneally with cystic forms, showing the infectivity of the cysts. The demonstrated capacity of the cysts to reconvert into motile spirochetes in vivo and their surprising resistance to adverse environmental conditions should lead to further studies on the role and function of these forms in Lyme disease.

PMID: 11478686 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
.

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