Journal of Dental Research, Vol 65, 909-912, Copyright © 1986 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
Effects of ammonia and volatile fatty acids produced by oral bacteria on tissue culture cells
T. J. van Steenbergen, L. M. van der Mispel and J. de Graaff
Culture filtrates of several bacterial species isolated from the oral
cavity were tested for their effects on two types of tissue culture cells:
Vero cells, the continuous cell line of African green monkey kidney cells;
and chondrocytes, isolated from 15-day-old chick embryo tibiae. Only a
limited number of bacterial species--i.e., the asaccharolytic
black-pigmented Bacteroides species and Fusobacterium species--affected the
two cell types. The effect on Vero cells, detected by the rounding of the
cells, correlated with the butyric acid concentration in the bacterial
supernatant, which confirms previous findings. A small enhancement of this
effect was found with propionic acid and ammonium ions. The same strains
which affected Vero cells also affected chondrocytes, detected by a
vacuolization of the cells. However, volatile fatty acids on their own had
no visible effect on these cells. Instead, ammonium ion in the culture
filtrate, when present in concentrations of 20 to 60 mmol/L, proved to be
responsible for vacuolization of the chondrocytes. The volatile fatty acids
(butyric and propionic) had a limited additive effect. No effects were
visible with cell extracts of the bacteria.
