title: Characterisation of the oral, vaginal and rectal Lactobacillus flora in healthy pregnant and postmenopausal women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the hypothesis that the rectum may be an important reservoir for vaginal colonisation by Lactobacillus species.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included 60 pregnant women aged 18-35 years and 80 postmenopausal women aged 55-65 years in this cross-sectional observational study. Participants had to be without clinical signs of vaginal infection and without hormone replacement therapy. Only women with normal vaginal microflora (Nugent scores 0-3) were included in the evaluation. The first oral, vaginal, and rectal smears were taken for the enumeration of lactobacilli by cultural methods and identification of dominating lactobacilli based on multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The second oral, vaginal, and rectal smears were taken for molecular lactobacilli profiling using PCR denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE).
  
  
  RESULTS
  30 pregnant and 30 postmenopausal women were evaluated. On multiplex PCR, 99 colonies isolated from 30 pregnant women and 37 colonies isolated from 30 postmenopausal women were identified as being members of the genus Lactobacillus: 50% of pregnant and 33% of postmenopausal women had one or more Lactobacillus spp. recovered from their oral specimens. Around 80% of pregnant and 40% of postmenopausal women harboured one or more Lactobacillus spp. in the vagina and rectum. On PCR-DGGE, 80% of pregnant and 40% of postmenopausal women harboured the same lactobacilli isolates in both the vagina and rectum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study supports the hypothesis that the rectum may play an important role as a reservoir for some strains of lactobacilli that colonise the vagina.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Fetomaternal Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ljubomir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Petricevic
authors.forename: Konrad J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Domig
authors.forename: Franz Joseph
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Nierscher
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Krondorfer
authors.forename: Cathrin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Janitschek
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kneifel
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kiss
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009055:Mouth / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017698:Postmenopause; D011247:Pregnancy; D012007:Rectum / Q000382:microbiology*; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology*