virginiamycin and Periapical-Periodontitis

Putative virulence factors of Enterococcus faecalis have been proposed by several workers and, by analogy, these have been linked to strains of endodontic origin. However, their distribution within the cell population is unknown. In the present study, isolates were taken from the dental root canals of two defined human populations, Lithuanian and Finnish, and examined for a range of virulence properties. In addition, surface-associated molecules and intracellular proteins were compared using matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization/mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and ProteinChip capture/MS (SELDI-TOF-MS), respectively.. Twenty-three Lithuanian and 35 Finnish dental root canal isolates were included. The esp, gelE, ace and efaA genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction, and cytolysin and gelatinase phenotypes were determined by hydrolysis of horse blood agar and gelatine agar, respectively. Protein extracts and surface-associated molecules of whole cells were analysed by SELDI-TOF-MS and MALDI-TOF-MS, respectively.. Presence of esp (n = 15), cytolysin (n = 9), ace (n = 55) and efaA (n = 58) was not statistically different in the two samples, whereas gelE and gelatinase production was detected more frequently in the Finnish material (chi-squared, P < 0.01). Analysis of protein profiles by SELDI-TOF-MS showed clustering of cytolysin-producing strains, whereas MALDI-TOF-MS generated profiles that clustered according to the samples' origin and, furthermore, to atypical quinupristin-dalfopristin susceptibility.. A high prevalence of virulence factors was demonstrated in both population types. SELDI-TOF-MS and MALDI-TOF-MS proved useful in distinguishing between different E. faecalis phenotypes and they may be useful technologies for elucidating the eco-distribution of E. faecalis in humans.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antigens, Bacterial; Bacterial Proteins; Carrier Proteins; Dental Pulp Cavity; Enterococcus faecalis; Finland; Gelatinases; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections; Humans; Lithuania; Membrane Glycoproteins; Membrane Proteins; Molecular Epidemiology; Perforin; Periapical Periodontitis; Pore Forming Cytotoxic Proteins; Protein Array Analysis; Proteome; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Virginiamycin; Virulence Factors

Enterococcus faecalis strains with multiple antibiotic resistances can cause infections that are difficult to treat. The microbial flora in treatment-resistant apical periodontitis is dominated by E. faecalis, and is a potential source of infections at other sites.. Sensitivities to a range of antibiotics were determined for 59 endodontic E. faecalis isolates from Finland and Lithuania. The DNA sequence of the gene responsible for the species' intrinsic quinupristin-dalfopristin resistance, lsa, was determined from two isolates with diminished resistance. Four pairs of isolates from the same root canal were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.. A high prevalence of resistance to rifampicin was found, whereas all isolates were susceptible or showed intermediate susceptibility to penicillin and ampicillin and four isolates were unusually susceptible to cefotaxime. No vancomycin or high-level gentamicin resistance was detected. Nine of 59 isolates were susceptible to quinupristin-dalfopristin. A fully quinupristin-dalfopristin-susceptible isolate also susceptible to clindamycin produced a truncated Lsa polypeptide, and an isolate with borderline quinupristin-dalfopristin-susceptibility had mutations proximal to the predicted ribosomal binding site. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed that the same root canal could harbor two different strains of E. faecalis during the course of the same infection.. Despite the differing antibiotic usage in Finland and Lithuania, E. faecalis from endodontic infections in these countries showed similar susceptibility patterns with levels of resistance considered typical for the species, and decreased resistance to clindamycin and quinupristin-dalfopristin as well as lesions in the lsa gene which were similar to those described in other clinical isolates.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; Base Sequence; Dental Pulp Cavity; DNA Mutational Analysis; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Enterococcus faecalis; Finland; Genes, Bacterial; Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections; Humans; Latvia; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Molecular Epidemiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Periapical Periodontitis; Virginiamycin