Possible new way to fight lung infections

Check out this article. http://www.spiritindia.com/health-ca...cles-7534.html A study done in collaboration with the University of Washington found that using a metallic "Trojan Horse" - tricking the bacteria by replacing the iron they need from their environment with the metallic element gallium - can ki ll bacteria. The study will appear in the April 2 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The UC team headed by Bradley Britigan, MD, chairman of the internal medicine department at UC and staff physician at the Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, found substituting gallium for iron would prevent the bacteria from growing. "All bacteria need iron from their host environment to grow and replicate," said Britigan, coauthor of the study. "Without enough iron, the organism has a much more difficult time forming 'biofilms,' protective skins that form around colonies of bacteria and help them maintain chronic infections." Rather than trying to find a new way to attack and ki ll off bacteria, researchers used gallium, which resembles iron but cannot be used by bacteria, to create an inhospitable environment. "Cells take up gallium as they would iron and insert it into enzymes," said Britigan. "But when they do this, the enzymes stop working and the bacteria don't grow." In both cell cultures and in mice, the gallium treatment ki lled bacteria and prevented the formation of biofilms. ...
Source: Cystic Fibrosis Alternative Medicine Forum - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Alternative Medicine Source Type: forums