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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2008, p. 5511-5515, Vol. 74, No. 17
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01119-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bond Strengthening in Oral Bacterial Adhesion to Salivary Conditioning Films

Henny C. van der Mei,^* Minie Rustema-Abbing, Joop de Vries, and Henk J. Busscher

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University Medical Center Groningen, and University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands

Received 14 May 2008/ Accepted 7 July 2008

Transition from reversible to irreversible bacterial adhesion is a highly relevant but poorly understood step in initial biofilm formation. We hypothesize that in oral biofilm formation, irreversible adhesion is caused by bond strengthening due to specific bacterial interactions with salivary conditioning films. Here, we compared the initial adhesion of six oral bacterial strains to salivary conditioning films with their adhesion to a bovine serum albumin (BSA) coating and related their adhesion to the strengthening of the binding forces measured with bacteria-coated atomic force microscopy cantilevers. All strains adhered in higher numbers to salivary conditioning films than to BSA coatings, and specific bacterial interactions with salivary conditioning films were accompanied by stronger initial adhesion forces. Bond strengthening occurred on a time scale of several tens of seconds and was slower for actinomyces than for streptococci. Nonspecific interactions between bacteria and BSA coatings strengthened twofold faster than their specific interactions with salivary conditioning films, likely because specific interactions require a closer approach of interacting surfaces with the removal of interfacial water and a more extensive rearrangement of surface structures. After bond strengthening, bacterial adhesion forces with a salivary conditioning film remained stronger than those with BSA coatings.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University Medical Center Groningen, and University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands. Phone: 31-50-3633140. Fax: 31-50-3633159. E-mail: h.c.van.der.mei{at}med.umcg.nl

Published ahead of print on 18 July 2008.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2008, p. 5511-5515, Vol. 74, No. 17
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01119-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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