Ribotyping of bacteria from root canal and blood of patients receiving endodontic therapy

DNA restriction patterns and corresponding ribotypes of 26 bacterial isolates (Propionibacterium acnes, Peptostreptococcus prevotii, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Prevotella intermedia, Prevotella nigrescens, Actinomyces israelii, Streptococcus intermedius, and Streptococcus sanguis) recovered from patients with infected root canals and their peripheral blood, collected during and after endodontic therapy, were examined. Eleven additional reference strains including type strains were also examined. Purified DNA was digested with BglI, EcoRI, and HindIII. Hybridization was carried out with a digoxigenin-labeled cDNA probe obtained by reverse transcription of Escherichia coli 16S + 23S rRNA. Ribotypes of the bacteria recovered from root canal and blood showed identical characteristics within the patients, and differed between the patients. The results were confirmed when the similarity coefficient (S-AB) of the ribotypes from the isolates were assessed by the Dendron computer-assisted system. These results suggested that the bacteria isolated from the blood originated from the root canal. (C) 1997 Academic Press.