Epithelial Coculture and l-Lactate Promote Growth of Helicobacter cinaedi under H2-Free Aerobic Conditions.

H. cinaedi is an increasingly recognized pathogen in people with compromised immune systems. Atypical among other members of its bacterial class, H. cinaedi has been associated with infections of diverse anatomic sites. Growing H. cineadi in the laboratory is quite difficult, due in large part to the need for a specialized atmosphere. The suboptimal growth of H. cinaedi is an obstacle to clinical diagnosis, and it also limits investigation into the organism's biology. The current work shows that H. cinaedi has more flexible atmospheric requirements in the presence of host cells and a common host-derived molecule. This nutritional interplay raises new questions about how the organism behaves during human infections and provides insights for how to optimize its laboratory cultivation.