Figures
High-resolution mapping reveals that microniches in the gastric glands control Helicobacter pylori colonization of the stomach
Lifelong infection of the gastric mucosa by Helicobacter pylori can lead to peptic ulcers and gastric cancer. However, how the bacteria maintain chronic colonization in the face of constant mucus and epithelial cell turnover in the stomach is unclear. Fung et al. present a new model of how H. pylori establish and persist in stomach, which involves the colonization of a specialized microenvironment, or microniche, deep in the gastric glands. Using quantitative three-dimensional confocal microscopy and passive CLARITY technique, which renders tissues optically transparent, the authors analyzed intact stomachs from mice infected with a mixture of isogenic, fluorescent H. pylori strains with unprecedented spatial resolution. The image shows mouse gastric glands infected with H. pylori expressing tdTomato (red, left panel), green fluorescent protein (green, right panel), or a mixture of both bacterial strains (red and green, middle panel). In each panel, host nuclei are stained blue and host actin white.
Image Credit: Fung et al.
Citation: (2019) PLoS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 17(5) May 2019. PLoS Biol 17(5): ev17.i05. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v17.i05
Published: May 31, 2019
Copyright: © 2019 Fung et al.. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Lifelong infection of the gastric mucosa by Helicobacter pylori can lead to peptic ulcers and gastric cancer. However, how the bacteria maintain chronic colonization in the face of constant mucus and epithelial cell turnover in the stomach is unclear. Fung et al. present a new model of how H. pylori establish and persist in stomach, which involves the colonization of a specialized microenvironment, or microniche, deep in the gastric glands. Using quantitative three-dimensional confocal microscopy and passive CLARITY technique, which renders tissues optically transparent, the authors analyzed intact stomachs from mice infected with a mixture of isogenic, fluorescent H. pylori strains with unprecedented spatial resolution. The image shows mouse gastric glands infected with H. pylori expressing tdTomato (red, left panel), green fluorescent protein (green, right panel), or a mixture of both bacterial strains (red and green, middle panel). In each panel, host nuclei are stained blue and host actin white.
Image Credit: Fung et al.