Department of Haematology and Oncology L. and A. Seragnoli, Section of Microbiology, University of Bologna, St. Orsola Hospital, 9 via G. Massarenti, 40138 Bologna, Italy.
J Dent Res. 2010 May;89(5):521-6. doi: 10.1177/0022034510363105. Epub 2010 Mar 3.
Treponema denticola has been identified as an important cause of periodontal disease and hypothesized to be involved in extra-oral infections. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of T. denticola cell length and motility during mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro uptake. Macrophages, incubated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, produced a similar amount of TNF-alpha when stimulated with Escherichia coli LPS. The uptake of FlgE- and CfpA-deficient mutants of T. denticola was significantly increased compared with the wild-type strain, due to cell size or lack of motility. Opsonization with specific antibodies considerably improved the treponemes' uptake. These results suggest that macrophages, in addition to other phagocytes, could play an important role in the control of T. denticola infection, and that the raising of specific antibodies could improve the efficacy of the immune response toward T. denticola, either at an oral site or during dissemination.
齿密螺旋体已被确定为牙周病的重要病因，并被假设与口腔外感染有关。本研究的目的是研究齿密螺旋体细胞长度和运动性在体外摄取小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞中的作用。在需氧和厌氧条件下孵育的巨噬细胞，在受到大肠杆菌 LPS 刺激时产生相似量的 TNF-α。与野生型菌株相比，FlgE- 和 CfpA 缺陷突变体的摄取明显增加，这归因于细胞大小或缺乏运动性。用特异性抗体调理显著提高了密螺旋体的摄取。这些结果表明，巨噬细胞除其他吞噬细胞外，可能在控制密螺旋体感染方面发挥重要作用，并且特异性抗体的产生可提高针对密螺旋体的免疫反应的效果，无论是在口腔部位还是在传播过程中。
