Abstract
Most in vitro studies on the antibacterial effects of antiseptics have used planktonic bacteria in monocultures. However, this study design does not reflect the in vivo situation in oral cavities harboring different bacterial species that live in symbiotic relationships in biofilms. The aim of this study was to establish a simple in vitro polymicrobial model consisting of only three bacterial strains of different phases of oral biofilm formation to simulate in vivo oral conditions. Therefore, we studied the biofilm formation of Actinomyces naeslundii (An), Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn), and Enterococcus faecalis (Ef) on 96-well tissue culture plates under static anaerobic conditions using artificial saliva according to the method established by Pratten et al. that was supplemented with 1 g l−1 sucrose. Growth was separately determined for each bacterial strain after incubation periods of up to 72 h by means of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and live/dead staining. Presence of an extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) was visualized by Concanavalin A staining. Increasing incubation times of up to 72 h showed adhesion and propagation of the bacterial strains with artificial saliva formulation. An and Ef had significantly higher growth rates than Fn. Live/dead staining showed a median of 49.9 % (range 46.0–53.0 %) of living bacteria after 72 h of incubation, and 3D fluorescence microscopy showed a three-dimensional structure containing EPS. An in vitro oral polymicrobial biofilm model was established to better simulate oral conditions and had the advantage of providing the well-controlled experimental conditions of in vitro testing.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr Udo Reischl for his support regarding real-time PCR (Department of Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Regensburg, Germany). The authors thank Dr Fabian Cieplik (Department of Restorative Dentistry and Periodontology, University Medical Center, Regensburg) for scientific discussions. The editorial assistance of Ms. Monika Schoell is gratefully acknowledged.
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Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt.
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Tabenski, L., Maisch, T., Santarelli, F. et al. Individual growth detection of bacterial species in an in vitro oral polymicrobial biofilm model. Arch Microbiol 196, 819–828 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-014-1021-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-014-1021-z