抄録
In order to demonstrate that oral mycoplasmas adhere to oral epithelial cells, attempts were made to isolate mycoplasmas from the cells. The cells from 121 subjects (60 males and 61 females, ranging in age from 0 to 81 years) were sampled from buccal mucosa and gingiva with sterile swabs; suspended in liquid medium for the growth of mycoplasmas; washed 3 times without changing a centrifuge tube for each washing in 3mlof the liquid medium (Experiment I) or with changing in 5mlof the medium (Experiment II); suspended in the medium; and incubated at 37°C. The cells were sedimented by centrifugation at 90×g for 5min. In Experiment I, mycoplasmas were isolated from buccal cells of 15 (71%) of 21 subjects and from gingival cells of 14 (67%); and from buccal cells of 34 (42%) of 81 subjects in Experiment II. Of 268 strains isolated from buccal cells, 217 (81%) and 51 (19%) were identified withMycoplasma salivariumandMycoplasma orale, respectively; and 143 (76%) of 188 strains from gingival cells and 45 (24%) with the former and the latter. Thus, oral mycoplasmas were demonstrated to adhere to oral epithelial cells.
Therefore, experiments were carried out to know whether or notM. salivariumadheres to buccal cellsin vitro. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was applied to detect the organisms quantitatively. The organism was shown to have adhered in situ to the buccal cells of 17 (89%) of 19 subjects, when the cells were sampled, and to adhere to these cells slightly or not to adhere entirely, when they were incubated with the organism. On the other hand, the organism was not detected from the cells of 2 subjects, and was shown to adhere to these cells.
