Bacteriophages

Bacteriophages are viruses (viruses that infect bacteria) that multiply in the cells of microorganisms. The use of phages as therapeutic antimicrobial agents is a promising modern medical technology.

History

2022: Russia has created a container for delivery to the intestine of bacteriophage, which is an alternative to antibiotics

A group of scientists from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics (ITEB) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the All-Russian Collection of Microorganisms of the Scriabin Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms of the Russian Academy of Sciences has created a container for delivering bacteriophage to the intestines. The development will increase the effectiveness of treating bacterial diseases, its creators said on April 13, 2022.

Scientists have come up with an inexpensive method to protect bacteriophages and deliver them to the small intestine. The resulting particles, including bacteriophages, have a size of 5 ± 1 micron and are an aqueous suspension. The authors propose using calcium carbonate microparticles as a container to deliver bacteriophage through the stomach's acid barrier, the report said.

A group of Russian scientists has created a container for delivery to the intestine of bacteriophage, which is an alternative to antibiotics

Existing antibiotics remain effective in most cases. However, the problem of resistance of microorganisms is becoming more and more serious, and the global scientific community is actively looking for ways to solve this problem. The most obvious is the creation of new types of antibiotics, but this is very expensive and long, since it takes years to develop a drug.

Bacteriophages are an alternative to antibiotics because they are much cheaper to produce, have no side effects and do not disrupt the body's natural flora. However, the instability of phages prevents their widespread use.

In the new work, Russian scientists proposed a special delivery system that stabilizes phages to solve this problem. To do this, they simply place them in encapsulated calcium carbonate. The resulting particles easily dissolve in an acidic environment, while protecting phages from their action.

The authors showed that as a result of the gradual dissolution of calcium carbonate, the acidity of gastric juice was equalized, while the total acidity of gastric juice was not reduced. The phage gradually reached the small intestine along with the food mass and began to act, despite the fact that the simplified capsule did not completely dissolve.^[1]

Antibiotics

Main article: Antibiotics

Notes