title: Detection of signature volatiles for cariogenic microorganisms.
abstract: The development of a breath test by the identification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by cariogenic bacteria is a promising approach for caries risk assessment and early caries detection. The aim of the present study was to investigate the volatile profiles of three major cariogenic bacteria and to assess whether the obtained signatures were species-specific. Therefore, the headspaces above cultures of Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus salivarius and Propionibacterium acidifaciens were analysed after 24 and 48 h of cultivation using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. A volatile database was queried for the obtained VOC profiles. Sixty-four compounds were detected within the analysed culture headspaces and were absent (36) or at least only present in minor amounts (28) in the control headspace. For S. mutans 18, for L. salivarius three and for P. acidifaciens five compounds were found to be unique signature VOCs. Database matching revealed that the identified signatures of all bacteria were unique. Furthermore, 13 of the 64 detected substances have not been previously reported to be emitted by bacteria or fungi. Specific VOC signatures were found in all the investigated bacteria cultures. The obtained results encourage further research to investigate the transferability to in vivo conditions towards the development of a breath test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, Dental Radiology and Oral Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hertel
authors.affiliation: Structural Bioinformatics Group, Institute for Physiology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Preissner
authors.affiliation: German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany.|Hematology, Oncology and Tumor Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gillissen
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, Dental Radiology and Oral Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Schmidt-Westhausen
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative and Preventive Dentistry, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Aßmannshauser Str. 4-6, 14197, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paris
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative and Preventive Dentistry, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Aßmannshauser Str. 4-6, 14197, Berlin, Germany. saskia.preissner@charite.de.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Preissner
mesh_terms: D001944:Breath Tests / Q000379:methods*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D011424:Propionibacterium / Q000378:metabolism*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000378:metabolism*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds