Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Veillonella spp. are found in high numbers in the mouth in
dental plaque and on the mucosa. Veillonellae utilize lactic acid
for their metabolic needs. A symbiotic relationship between
Veillonellae and other oral bacteria, including a nutritional
relationship with some streptococci, has been demonstrated both
in vitro and in vivo. Thus, Veillonellae may protect the host
from dental caries. Adherence is the initial step in bacterial
colonization of oral surfaces. Recent evidence suggests that
certain oral bacteria express molecules (adhesins) on their cell
surface, which recognize receptors on other oral bacteria and/or
in salivary pellicle. It has been previously demonstrated that
Veillonella spp. bind avidly to Streptococcus. spp. found in
subgingival plaque. The present study investigated the ability of
V. atypica PK1910 to bind to saliva-coated hydroxyapatite
(SHA), a model for adherence to the salivary pellicle. The results
show that there was statistically significant enhanced binding of
Veillonella atypica PK1910 to saliva-coated hydroxyapatite
beads. (p< 0.05) Three classes of coaggregation-defective
mutants of V. atypica PK1910 were tested for their ability to
bind to SHA. Interestingly, they did not demonstrate any
enhanced binding to saliva-coated hydroxyapatite beads.
Heating of PK1910 did not effect binding to SHA. In contrast,
protease treatment of the veillonella cell surface inactivated
binding. Therefore, it appears that V. atypica PK1910, in
addition to binding to oral Streptoccoccus spp. in dental plaque,
may also colonize the tooth surface by binding directly to the
salivary pellicle. It appears that a distinct heat stable protein
may mediate this binding to SHA.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:IUPUI/oai:scholarworks.iupui.edu:1805/4387 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Wu, Sonya L. |
| Contributors | Hughes, Christopher V., Gregory, Richard L., Sanders, Brian J., Bowman, Dennis E., Avery, David R. |
| Source Sets | Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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