So, the xylitol in our rinses, either added or via a product like
Xlear, could inhibit or eradicate biofilms. I like it.

FYI, my husband went to a course for dentists on pediatric dentistry
and they discussed biofilms, the lecturer was from U of Michigan.
Judy

So what would be a better approach, addiding Xylitol to irrigation or
adding Splenda, and where do you get farnesols?
Sergei911

Are you still on that allergy kick?
The bugs have the arsenal to muck with HIF-1 and other enzymes,
including the chloride ion channel modulator. Bet they have an enzyme
to interfer with HIF-1 as well.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080213140826.htm

Bacterial Toxin Closes Gate On Immune Response, Researchers Discover

ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2008) -- Researchers at the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that a bacterial
toxin from the common bacterium Staphylococcus aureus shuts down the
control mechanism of the tunnel, called an ion channel, in immune cell
membranes. Shutting down ion channels has long been known to suppress
the immune response, and the bacteria may use the toxin to neutralize
host defenses against bacteria.

This research has implications for finding new ways to fight MRSA,
which is a strain of Staphylococcus aureus that has become resistant
to the antibiotic methicillin.

Immune cells, like other cells, have ion channels in their membranes.
When the voltage-sensing part of the channel detects an electrical
change in the cell membrane, the channel gate opens, allowing small
ions such as sodium, potassium, or calcium to flow across the cell
membrane. The channels in immune cells called Kv1.3 channels allow
only potassium ions to pass, and the activity of these channels is
required for triggering an immune response.

"We have provided a key piece of evidence for the hypothesis that the
negatively charged phosphate groups of membrane lipids around voltage
sensors provide the critical electric balance for some of these
positive charges in the sensors," says Zhe Lu, MD, PhD, of the
Department of Physiology at Penn. The research team, that included
Yanping Xu, MD, PhD and Yajamana Ramu, PhD, showed that removal of
phosphate head groups from some membrane lipids by the bacterial toxin
called sphingomyelinase (SMase) C shuts down the Kv1.3 channel.
Therefore if the positive charges are not properly balanced by
negative charges, the electrical sensor cannot move to "open the gate"
of the channel. And, if the channel fails to open, the immune response
is derailed.

"Our study builds on the efforts of two senior colleagues in the
Department," says Lu. Twenty-five years ago, Professor Clay Armstrong
(now emeritus) hypothesized that the positive charges in the
electrical sensor must be balanced by negative charges for the sensor
to function properly. And a few years later, Professor Carol Deutsch,
among others, demonstrated the presence of potassium channels
controlled by voltage in immune cells.

SMase C is made by, among other bacteria, S. aureus, a pathogenic
bacterium that causes a range of infections from minor skin lesions to
toxic shock. "This finding raises the intriguing possibility that the
SMase C action against Kv1.3 helps S. aureus to neutralize host
defenses," state the authors in the paper.

The findings of this study suggest the possibility that identifying
inhibitors of SMase C may be a way to combat S. aureus infections. One
strain of S. aureus is the much-talked-about, MRSA, or methycillin-
resistant S. aureus. Specific inhibitors of SMase C may expand the
choice of therapies for treating MRSA and other resistant S. aureus
infections.

This study was conducted in a common experimental system where frog
eggs were engineered to have particular voltage-gated ion channels in
their membranes. SMases used in the study were purified from bacteria
engineered to produce the enzymes.

This new study follows a 2006 study by the same research team showing
that an SMase from the brown recluse spider could activate voltage-
gated ion channels. In 2007 the team discovered that SMases from lung-
infecting bacteria inactivate ion channels that conduct chloride ions,
which would in turn aggravate lung infection in some cystic fibrosis
patients.

The study is published in the February 14 issue of Nature. The
National Institute of General Medical Sciences provided funding for
this research.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Pennsylvania School
of Medicine.
Need to cite this story in your essay, pap