Molecular detection of Helicobacter species in the bile and histopathological evaluation of gall bladders of patients with calculus cholycystitis in Duhok province, Kurdistan region of Iraq

Abstract

Background and objective: The presence of bile-resistant Helicobacter spp. in bile and gallbladder tissues has been proposed as a cause of gallbladder disease. This study aimed to assess the histopathological events in calculus cholecystitis and investigate the presence of the DNA of Helicobacter spp. in the bile. Methods: Forty patients who underwent cholecystectomy for calculus cholecystitis were evaluated for the presence of Helicobacter spp. by polymerase chain reaction methods and gallbladder tissue was evaluated histopathologically. Gall bladders were fixed in formalin and subjected to histopathological investigation while bile sample was used for the extraction of DNA.Results: The histopathological findings revealed that twenty-seven (67.5%) samples showed mild chronic inflammation, one (2.5 %) sample with acute inflammation, four (10 %) samples with acute on chronic inflammation, eight (20 %) samples have normal histological findings. The molecular investigation revealed that twenty one (52 %) samples out of the forty showed the presence of genomic DNA after being subjected to DNA extraction and that fourteen (66.7 %) samples out of the twenty one showed amplification bands of 300 bp after PCR amplification indicating the presence of Helicobacter spp. within the samples. But no sample revealed the presence of H. pylori DNA when PCR was applied. Conclusion: Helicobacter spp. are considered as a determining factor for the development of gall bladder inflammation.