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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, October 2004, p. 3782-3788, Vol. 48, No. 10
0066-4804/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AAC.48.10.3782-3788.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Effect of Glycine on Helicobacter pylori In Vitro

Masaaki Minami,1,2 Takafumi Ando,1* Shin-nosuke Hashikawa,2 Keizo Torii,2 Tadao Hasegawa,2 Dawn A. Israel,3 Kenji Ina,1 Kazuo Kusugami,1 Hidemi Goto,1 and Michio Ohta2

Department of Therapeutic Medicine,1 Department of Molecular Bacteriology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan,2 Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee3

Received 6 October 2003/ Returned for modification 20 January 2004/ Accepted 7 June 2004

Glycine is the simplest amino acid and is used as a metabolic product in some bacteria. However, an excess of glycine inhibits the growth of many bacteria, and it is used as a nonspecific antiseptic agent due to its low level of toxicity in animals. The effect of glycine on Helicobacter pylori is not precisely known. The present study was conducted to investigate (i) the effect of glycine on clarithromycin (CLR)-resistant and -susceptible strains of H. pylori, (ii) the effect of glycine in combination with amoxicillin (AMX), and (iii) the postantibiotic effect (PAE). The MIC at which 90% of strains are inhibited for glycine was almost 2.5 mg/ml for 31 strains of H. pylori, including CLR-resistant strains. We constructed isogenic CLR-resistant mutant strains by natural transformation and investigated the difference between clinical wild-type strains and isogenic mutants. There were no differences in the MICs between CLR-resistant and -susceptible strains or between clinical wild-type and mutant strains. The combination of AMX and glycine showed synergistic activity, with the minimum bactericidal concentration of AMX with glycine decreasing to 1/10 that of AMX alone. Glycine showed no PAE against H. pylori. These results suggest that glycine may be a useful antimicrobial agent against H. pylori not only alone but also in combination with antibacterial drugs for the treatment of H. pylori-associated diseases. Glycine may represent a component of a new type of eradication therapy for CLR-resistant H. pylori.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Therapeutic Medicine, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. Phone: 81-52-744-2144. Fax: 81-52-744-2157. E-mail: takafumia-gi{at}umin.ac.jp.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, October 2004, p. 3782-3788, Vol. 48, No. 10
0066-4804/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AAC.48.10.3782-3788.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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