CHARACTERIZATION OF ORAL TREPONEMES ISOLATED FROM HUMAN PERIODONTAL POCKETS

A total of 90 clinical strains of oral treponemes was isolated from su bgingival plaque in patients with periodontal disease. They were chara cterized by biochemical means as well as cell enzyme, protein analysis using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and D NA dot blot hybridization. Sixty strains were isolated on Medium 10 (M 10), which was fundamentally serum-free. The remainder were isolated o n serum-containing media. Isolates were divided into 6 groups accordin g to their biochemical characteristics. Three of the 6 groups were asa ccharolytic, and 2 of these 3 groups were Treponema denticola and ''Tr eponema vincentii''. The other 3 groups were saccharolytic and further divided into 9 subgroups. The analyses of cell enzyme, cell protein a nd dot blot hybridization with the DNA probe of Treponema socranskii i ndicated that all the saccharolytic groups were T. socranskii or close ly related species. This study indicated that the newly characterized saccharolytic oral treponemes could be identified using M10 from the h uman periodontal pocket.