Background and objective: Molecular biological methods for the detection of periodontitis-associated bacteria based on DNA amplification have many advantages over classical culture techniques. However, when it comes to assessing immediate therapeutic success, e.g. reduction of viable bacteria, DNA-based polymerase chain reaction is unsuitable because it does not distinguish between live and dead bacteria. Our objective was to establish a simple RNA-based method that is easily set up and allows reliable assessment of the live bacterial load.
Material and methods: We compared conventional quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), propidium monoazide-qPCR and reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR) for the detection of periodontal pathogens after antibiotic treatment in vitro. Applicability was tested using clinical samples of subgingival plaque obtained from patients at different treatment stages.
Results: The bacterial load was remarkably stable over prolonged periods when assessed by conventional qPCR, while both propidium monoazide intercalation as well as cDNA quantitation showed a decline according to decreasing numbers of viable bacteria after antibiotic treatment. Clinical samples of subgingival plaque were directly subjected to DNase I treatment and RT without previous extraction or purification steps. While the results of the DNA- and RNA-based methods are comparable in untreated patients, the classical qPCR frequently detected substantial bacterial load in treated patients where RT-qPCR no longer indicates the presence of those pathogens. The disagreement rates ranged between 4 and 20% in first visit patients and 8-50% in the group of currently treated patients.
Conclusion: We propose to use RNA-based detection methods to verify the successful eradication of periodontal pathogens.
Keywords: DNA/RNA; PCR; diagnostics; periodontal; periodontal pathogens; subgingival plaque.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.