Zhao CF, Xu XT, Ye SY, Liu TH, Xu ZF. Letter to the Editor: Rethinking Helicobacter pylori culture - toward precision media for a fastidious pathogen. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(17): 115984 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i17.115984]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zhi-Feng Xu, Chief Physician, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The 95th Hospital of Putian, No. 485 Dongyan Road, Licheng District, Putian 351100, Fujian Province, China. zhifengxu1972@163.com
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Microbiology
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May 7, 2026 (publication date) through Apr 24, 2026
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World Journal of Gastroenterology
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1007-9327
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Zhao CF, Xu XT, Ye SY, Liu TH, Xu ZF. Letter to the Editor: Rethinking Helicobacter pylori culture - toward precision media for a fastidious pathogen. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(17): 115984 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i17.115984]
World J Gastroenterol. May 7, 2026; 32(17): 115984 Published online May 7, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i17.115984
Letter to the Editor: Rethinking Helicobacter pylori culture - toward precision media for a fastidious pathogen
Cheng-Fei Zhao, Xiao-Ting Xu, Shen-Yi Ye, Tian-Hui Liu, Zhi-Feng Xu
Cheng-Fei Zhao, Xiao-Ting Xu, Shen-Yi Ye, Tian-Hui Liu, School of Pharmacy and Medical Technology, Putian University, Putian 351100, Fujian Province, China
Cheng-Fei Zhao, Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Laboratory Medicine, Putian 351100, Fujian Province, China
Zhi-Feng Xu, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The 95th Hospital of Putian, Putian 351100, Fujian Province, China
Co-first authors: Cheng-Fei Zhao and Xiao-Ting Xu.
Author contributions: Zhao CF and Xu XT mainly wrote and designed this paper as co-first authors; Zhao CF, Xu XT, Ye SY, Liu TH, and Xu ZF checked and proofread this paper, searched related literatures and information for this paper; and all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by Scientific Research Project of Putian University, No. 2022059; Special Project for Outstanding Young Talents of Putian University, No. 2024072; and Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, No. 2023J01160.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in this paper.
Corresponding author: Zhi-Feng Xu, Chief Physician, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The 95th Hospital of Putian, No. 485 Dongyan Road, Licheng District, Putian 351100, Fujian Province, China. zhifengxu1972@163.com
Received: October 31, 2025 Revised: December 3, 2025 Accepted: January 12, 2026 Published online: May 7, 2026 Processing time: 176 Days and 0.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Cultivating Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) remains one of persistent challenges in microbiology due to its stringent nutritional and microaerophilic growth requirements. A recent comparative study across ten liquid media and nine H. pylori strains demonstrated that growth efficiency is highly dependent on both medium composition and strain-specific characteristics. Chopped meat carbohydrate broth, Columbia broth, and fastidious anaerobe broth supported significantly better growth than conventional Brucella broth. These findings underscore that culture media are not passive substrates but active determinants of microbial physiology. An ideal precision medium should be defined not only by its ability to support high biomass but also by its capacity to maintain H. pylori in its viable, spiral form. Such optimization may improve experimental reproducibility and facilitate advances in diagnostics, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and vaccine development.
