Wow, another piece of the puzzle, and I think a first to show this:

"The new study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to show how a bacterial toxin [h. pylori] can disrupt a cell's mitochondria - its energy-generation and distribution system - to disable the cell and spur apoptosis (programmed cell death).....Previous studies had shown that VacA, a protein toxin produced by H. pylori, induces host cell death, Blanke said, "but the mechanism had been unknown."

The VacA protein was known to target the mitochondrion, an organelle that produces chemical energy where it is needed in the cell. In healthy cells, mitochondria fuse to form elaborate energy-generating networks in response to cellular needs. Mitochondria are important to a lot of other cellular processes; most important to Blanke and his colleagues, they regulate cell death.

While studying how a cell responds to infection, the researchers noticed that H. pylori induced mitochondrial fission. Instead of fusing and forming filamentous networks to respond to the cell's energy needs, the mitochondria were breaking into smaller, unconnected organelles.

"Fusion and fission are two dynamic and opposing processes that must be balanced to regulate mitochondrial structure and function," Blanke said. But infection with H. pylori - or with purified VacA toxin alone - was pushing the mitochondria toward fission."

Here's the link:

http://www.news-medical.net/news/201...apoptosis.aspx

Comments?

How can we white rat a steroid, and would it cross the BBB?