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In der vorliegenden Studie wurden von 62 Patienten (18 Frauen und 44 Manner) 93 Proben aus verschiedensten Gefasen und Gefasabschnitten wahrend der Gefasoperation entnommen und auf bakterielle 16S rDNS sowie—mittels spezifischen Oligonukleotidprimern—auf die mit Parodontitis assoziierten Keime P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, A. actinomycetemcomitans, C. rectus und B. forsythus untersucht. In 76,34% der 93 untersuchten Gefaswandpraparate waren Bakterien nachzuweisen, in 40,86% einer oder mehrere der parodontalpathogenen Erreger. Diese kamen so gut wie immer (mit einer Ausnahme) zusammen mit anderen Bakterien vor. C. pneumoniae fanden sich in 22,58% der Proben. Ihr Auftreten stand signifikant mit dem Vorkommen von parodontalpathogenen Keimen in Zusammenhang. Herpes-simplex- und Zytomegalieviren kamen in 24,73% bzw. 30,11% der Proben vor, ohne dass ein Zusammenhang mit Parodontalkeimen bestand. Diese Ergebnisse stehen im Einklang mit der Hypothese, dass Mikroorganismen, die mit Parodontitis assoziiert sind, bei der Atiologie und Pathogenese der Arteriosklerose eine wichtige Rolle spielen.

Introduction Recent studies suggest that chronic infections, including those associated with periodontitis, increase the risk for coronary vascular disease. We hypothesize that oral microorganisms including periodontal bacterial pathogens enter the blood stream during transient bacteremias where they may play a role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis. Materials and methods To test this hypothesis, 34 human specimens obtained during carotid endarterectomy or bypass procedures were examined by use of specific oligonucleotide primers for Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Bacteroides forsythus in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. Results Twenty (59%) of the 34 specimens tested positive for bacterial 16S rDNA. Subsequent hybridization of the bacterial 16S rDNA positive specimens with species-specific oligonucleotide probes revealed that 32.4% of the 34 atheromas tested positive for at least one of the target periodontal pathogens. Further analysis of the results in the bacterial positive group (n = 20) shows that 55% of the atheromas tested positive for at least one of the target periodontal pathogens. Conclusion These findings indicate that periodontal pathogens are present in atherosclerotic plaques, where they may play a role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis leading to coronary vascular disease and other clinical sequelae.

In order to assess the relationships among strains of the genera Actinobacillus and Haemophilus, DNAs from 50 strains of these genera were isolated and purified. The guanine plus cytosine (G + C) content of DNAs from strains of Haemophilus segnis and Haemophilus parainfluenzae were determined by thermal denaturation. DNA-DNA homologies were measured using labelled probes from one strain representing Haemophilus segnis (strain ATCC 10977), and two strains representing Haemophilus parainfluenzae (strains ATCC 9796 and ATCC 7901). Strains isolated as H. segnis had a G + C content of 39.0 to 42.9% and were 49-92% homologous with the ATCC 10977 DNA probe. All of the strains freshly isolated as H. parainfluenzae were 70-81% homologous with the ATCC 9796 DNA probe and had a G + C content of 34.9 to 38.3%. Strain ATCC 7901 was 11% homologous with the ATCC 9796 DNA probe, had a G + C content of 42.4%, and was 65-78% homologous to DNA from strains identified as Haemophilus aphrophilus and Haemophilus paraphrophilus. From these results we conclude that strain ATCC 7901 is a mislabelled strain of H. paraphrophilus. The results of multiple DNA-DNA hybridizations indicated that separate species designations were appropriate for H. segnis, H. parainfluenzae, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans ("Haemophilus actinomycetemcomitans"), and H. aphrophilus. H. aphrophilus and H. paraphrophilus were closely related organisms and did not fulfill the generally accepted criteria for designation as separate species.