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The Capacity of Porphyromonas gingivalis to Multiply Under Iron-limiting Conditions Correlates with its Pathogenicity in an Animal ModelGroupe de Recherche en Ecologie Buccale, Daniel.Grenier{at}greb.ulaval.ca
Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Buccale
Faculté de Medecine Dentaire, and Faculte des Sciences et de Genie, Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada G1K 7P4 Isolates of Porphyromonas gingivalis have various abilities to induce infections in an animal model. The hypothesis of this study was that pathogenic strains of P. gingivalis could multiply under iron-limiting conditions, while non-pathogenic strains could not. Three pathogenic strains (W50, W83, and ATCC 49417) grew to a final optical density (660 nm) > 2 in horse serum, while the growth of the 3 non-pathogenic strains (ATCC 33277, LB13D-2, and HW24D-1) was negligible. When an excess of hemin or ferric chloride was added to the serum, significant growth of the non-pathogenic strains occurred. Under iron-limiting conditions, the pathogenic strains of P. gingivalis had a much lower requirement for human iron-loaded transferrin and hemin than the non-pathogenic strains. Proteolytic degradation of transferrin, which may be associated with the release of iron, was not markedly different for pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains. In addition, no relationship could be established between the level of 55Fe uptake from 55Fe-transferrin and the pathogenicity of strains. Our study provided evidence that the ability of P. gingivalis to multiply in vitro under iron-limiting conditions may be correlated with its ability to induce infections in an animal model. Isolates of P. gingivalis possessing a low requirement for iron are likely to have a higher potential for initiating periodontal infections.
Key Words: periodontal disease Porphyromonas gingivalis pathogenicity iron transferrin.
Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 80, No. 7,
1678-1682 (2001) This article has been cited by other articles:
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