Novel application of agarose in cultivating microorganisms in the stomach and rapid drug susceptibility testing of Helicobacter pylori

Agarose is a promising tool for encapsulating areas as a kind of neutral polysaccharide. The purpose of this work is to expand the application of agarose. In this work, agarose microparticles for encapsulating microorganisms were introduced to the stomach through a novel water-in-water (w/w) emulsification method. Sequencing techniques were performed for the identification and characterization of bacteria, and drug-susceptibility testing of Helicobacter pylori through gel microdroplets growth assay and traditional Oxford cup method was conducted. Results indicated the presence of three phyla, eight genera, and more than 30 species in the samples. The correlation values of the traditional Oxford cup and GMD methods were 87.5% and 90%, respectively. The proposed encapsulation technology as efficient substitution for traditional Oxford cup method promised to be applicable for the isolation and cultivation of gastric flora. Compared to other methods, this new method showed advantages when mainly due to time simplicity of the whole process. The direct drug susceptibility test based on the novel encapsulation technology is a promising tool for the rational and flexible use of drugs in clinical practice. Furthermore, this work was an early exploration for the combination of encapsulation technology and agarose.