title: The use of culture-independent tools to characterize bacteria in endo-tracheal aspirates from pre-term infants at risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
abstract: Although premature infants are increasingly surviving the neonatal period, up to one-third develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Despite evidence that bacterial colonization of the neonatal respiratory tract by certain bacteria may be a risk factor in BPD development, little is known about the role these bacteria play. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of culture-independent molecular profiling methodologies to identify potential etiological agents in neonatal airway secretions. This study used terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and clone sequence analyses to characterize bacterial species in endo-tracheal (ET) aspirates from eight intubated pre-term infants. A wide range of different bacteria was identified in the samples. Forty-seven T-RF band lengths were resolved in the sample set, with a range of 0-15 separate species in each patient. Clone sequence analyses confirmed the identity of individual species detected by T-RFLP. We speculate that the identification of known opportunistic pathogens including S. aureus, Enterobacter sp., Moraxella catarrhalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus sp., within the airways of pre-term infants, might be causally related to the subsequent development of BPD. Further, we suggest that culture-independent techniques, such as T-RFLP, hold important potential for the characterization of neonatal conditions, such as BPD.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Microbiology Research Laboratory, Pharmaceutical Science Division, 150 Stamford Street, Franklin-Wilkins Building, King's College London, London, SE1 9NH, UK.
authors.forename: Franziska A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Stressmann
authors.forename: Gary J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Connett
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Goss
authors.forename: Tanoj G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Kollamparambil
authors.forename: Nilesh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Puddy
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Legg
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.forename: Geraint B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Rogers
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology; D001997:Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004754:Enterobacter / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000009:adverse effects; D001936:Moraxella catarrhalis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014132:Trachea / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S