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Infect. Immun. doi:10.1128/IAI.00733-06
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Polymicrobial periodontal disease: A rat model of polymicrobial infection, immunity, and alveolar bone resorption

Department of Periodontology, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611 and Center for Oral Health Research, College of Dentistry, University of Kentucky Lexington, KY, 40536, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: kesavalu{at}dental.ufl.edu.

	Abstract

One of the predominant polymicrobial infections of mankind is expressed clinically as periodontal disease. Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, and Tannerella forsythia are strongly implicated as a pathogenic consortium in the etiology of adult periodontitis. This study hypothesized that P. gingivalis, T. denticola, and T. forsythia are synergistic in their virulence potential resulting in the induction of chronic periodontal inflammation leading to alveolar bone resorption as a polymicrobial infection in rats. Groups of rats were infected with either P. gingivalis, T. denticola, or T. forsythia alone as monomicrobial infections or combined as a polymicrobial oral infection, with or without Fusobacterium nucleatum. PCR analyses of oral microbial samples demonstrated that monoinfected rats were orally colonized by each of the bacteria during the study interval, and increased serum IgG antibody levels substantiated the interaction of the host with the infecting bacteria. PCR analyses of the polymicrobial infected rats demonstrated infection with P. gingivalis, T. denticola, and T. forsythia as a consortium in most rats. Furthermore, all rats demonstrated a significant increase in IgG antibody to the polymicrobial consortium. Radiographic measurement of alveolar bone resorption showed that rats infected with polymicrobial consortium, with or without the inclusion of F. nucleatum, exhibited significantly increased alveolar bone resorption compared to uninfected control rats, as well as compared to monomicrobial infections. These results documented that not only P. gingivalis, T. denticola, and T. forsythia exist as a consortium associated with chronic periodontitis, but also exhibit synergistic virulence resulting in the immunoinflammatory bone resorption characteristic of periodontitis.

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