How NSAIDs Can Make a C. Difficile Infection Worse

By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, July 21, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Aspirin, naproxen and other common painkillers known as NSAIDs worsen gastrointestinal infections caused by bacteria called Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), new research shows.

“Our work further demonstrates the clinical importance of NSAIDs in patients with C. diff infection and sheds light on why the combination of these two can be so detrimental,” study co-author Joseph Zakular said in a press release from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

C. diff can be difficult to treat and can cause a wide range of symptoms, from mild diarrhea to complex infection and death.

Previous research has shown that NSAIDs like indomethacin, aspirin, and naproxen negatively affect the gut, both in patients with C. diff infection and other conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis).

Long-term use of these drugs can lead to various problems, such as stomach ulcers, bleeding, and perforation of the intestinal tissue.

One theory is that this occurs due to the effects of NSAIDs on cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes. While reducing inflammation and pain, the process can impair mucosal function in the upper gastrointestinal tract.

According to the study, NSAIDs have also been shown to uncouple cellular mitochondrial functions.

The researchers in this study used in vitro and mouse models of It’s hard infection to test the permeability of colonic epithelial cells in the presence of a particular NSAID, this time indomethacin.

Directed by Joshua Soto Ocanagraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, researchers observed that indomethacin and It’s hard toxins increased epithelial cell barrier permeability and inflammatory cell death.

The effect was additive, meaning that the combined effect on cell permeability of toxins and indomethacin was increased compared to each independently.

This suggests that NSAIDs and It’s hard together make the pathogen more virulent.

“Our mechanistic findings are a starting point for further research aimed at understanding the impact of mitochondrial functions during C. diff infection. These data could also shed light on how NSAID-mediated mitochondrial uncoupling affects other diseases, such as small bowel injury, IBD, and colorectal cancer,” Zackular said.

The researchers also observed that the combination of NSAIDs and It’s hard the toxins increased damage to colonic epithelial cell mitochondria and disrupted several important mitochondrial functions. However, research in animals does not always take place in humans.

This work was supported by the US National Institutes of Health.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have more on bacteria It’s hard.

SOURCE: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, press release, July 19, 2023

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