Bacterial L-form isolation from inflammatory bowel disease patients

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate a possible relationship between bacterial L forms and inflammatory bowel disease. Homogenates of intestinal mucosal biopsies from Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and control patients underwent bacterial culture on hypertonic media designed for the recovery of L-form bacteria and parental organisms. L forms were recovered from 24 of 71 Crohn's disease, 51 of 121 ulcerative colitis, and 2 of 140 control biopsy specimens. These isolation rates are significantly different when Crohn's disease biopsy specimens (p < 0.001) and ulcerative colitis biopsy specimens (p < 0.001) are compared with controls. Six different L-form types were recovered, of which the most common were Escherichia coli and Streptococcus fecalis. No marked differences were observed in L-form recovery rates or L-form types recovered between Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients. Drug treatment of inflammatory bowel disease patients did not affect L-form recovery rates or the type of L forms recovered. The results suggest either that L forms are involved in the causation of inflammatory bowel disease or that their presence in mucosal biopsy tissues is a result of the disease process.