Premium
Periodontal disease associated with Shigella flexneri in rhesus monkeys
Author(s) -
Armitage G. C.,
Newbrun E.,
Hoover C. I.,
Anderson J. H.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of periodontal research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.31
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0765
pISSN - 0022-3484
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0765.1982.tb01139.x
Subject(s) - shigella flexneri , periodontal disease , shigella , microbiology and biotechnology , shigellosis , medicine , biology , virology , dentistry , bacteria , escherichia coli , salmonella , genetics , gene
The clinical, microbiologic, and histopathologic features of Shigella flexneri ‐associated periodontal disease of rhesus monkeys were examined. Eighteen subgingival plaque samples and 17 gingival biopsy specimens were taken from 8 rhesus monkeys harboring S. flexneri orally. All plaque samples and three of the biopsy specimens were processed aerobically and anaerobically on selective and nonselective media. The remaining biopsy specimens were prepared for light or electron microscopic observation. An additional 11 subgingival plaque samples from 6 monkeys not suspected of orally harboring S. flexneri were also processed microbiologically. In the monkeys harboring Shigella orally, S. flexneri serotype 4 was isolated from 16 of the 18 subgingival plaque samples. It constituted a minor plaque component in all 16 positive sites, usually less than 0.1 % of the recoverable flora. S. flexneri was not detected in any of the subgingival plaques from control monkeys. Gingival sites harboring S. flexneri were characterized by extremely intense clinical inflammation. Histopathologic observations included ulceration of the pocket wall and heavy lymphocytic and plasma cell infiltration of the connective tissue. At the ultrastructural level, unidentified bacteria were occasionally observed between, and possibly within, intact epithelial cells adjacent to areas of ulceration. The results suggest that S. flexneri , though a numerically minor component of the plaque flora, may be important in the pathogenesis of the periodontal disease observed in this study.