STUDIES ON MUCOPOLYSACCHARASE ACTIVITY OF ORAL SPIROCHETES

¹ National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health, U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Bethesda, Md.

Sixteen representative strains of oral spirochetes (small oral treponemes, Borrelia vincentii, and Borrelia buccalis) were studied for the elaboration of mucopolysaccharase activity. In addition, an oral Streptococcus pyogenes and an oral diphtheroid bacillus were tested and served as controls. None of the spirochetes were found to produce enzymatic activity against hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfuric acid, or human synovial fluid. Extracellular hyaluronidase was detected in cultures of the streptococcus whereas the diphtheroid bacillus produced both extracellular and intracellular hyaluronidase and chondroitinase. These results, from in vitro experiments, indicate that the pathogenicity of the oral spirochetes does not depend upon their elaboration of mucopolysaccharases.