title: Flow chamber study of the adhesion of Prevotella intermedia to glass after preconditioning with mutans streptococcal species: kinetics and spatial arrangement.
abstract: The adhesion kinetics and spatial arrangement of a clinical isolate of Prevotella intermedia on bare glass and on glass which had been previously exposed to Streptococcus rattus or Streptococcus cricetus were studied using a parallel plate flow system and image analysis. When S. cricetus was the preconditioning organism the initial deposition rate and efficiency of P. intermedia were reduced even though very few S. cricetus adhered during flow with P. intermedia. Preconditioning with S. rattus had less effect on the adhesion behaviour of P. intermedia despite the fact that more S. rattus cells adhered than S. cricetus cells. Small differences in both the stationary state adhesion and in the final spatial arrangements were evident under the three experimental conditions. S. cricetus negatively influences initial deposition of subsequent P. intermedia adhesion possibly by the production of a biosurfactant or by leaving 'microbial footprints'. This interference is eventually overcome resulting in a similar stationary state adhesion of P. intermedia as found without S. cricetus preconditioning. Furthermore, the flow chamber system employed here proved uniquely suited for studying cell-cell interactions in initial adhesion.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Materia Technica, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Busscher
mesh_terms: D001421:Bacteria, Anaerobic / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology