<it>In vitro </it>modeling of host-parasite interactions: the 'subgingival' biofilm challenge of primary human epithelial cells

• Main Authors: Thurnheer Thomas, Meier André, Benakanakere Manjunatha R, Stathopoulou Panagiota G, Galicia Johnah C, Gmür Rudolf, Guggenheim Bernhard, Kinane Denis F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2009-12-01
• Series: BMC Microbiology
• Online Access: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/9/280

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microbial biofilms are known to cause an increasing number of chronic inflammatory and infectious conditions. A classical example is chronic periodontal disease, a condition initiated by the subgingival dental plaque biofilm on gingival epithelial tissues. We describe here a new model that permits the examination of interactions between the bacterial biofilm and host cells in general. We use primary human gingival epithelial cells (HGEC) and an <it>in vitro </it>grown biofilm, comprising nine frequently studied and representative subgingival plaque bacteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We describe the growth of a mature 'subgingival' <it>in vitro </it>biofilm, its composition during development, its ability to adapt to aerobic conditions and how we expose <it>in vitro </it>a HGEC monolayer to this biofilm. Challenging the host derived HGEC with the biofilm invoked apoptosis in the epithelial cells, triggered release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and in parallel induced rapid degradation of the cytokines by biofilm-generated enzymes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We developed an experimental <it>in vitro </it>model to study processes taking place in the gingival crevice during the initiation of inflammation. The new model takes into account that the microbial challenge derives from a biofilm community and not from planktonically cultured bacterial strains. It will facilitate easily the introduction of additional host cells such as neutrophils for future biofilm:host cell challenge studies. Our methodology may generate particular interest, as it should be widely applicable to other biofilm-related chronic inflammatory diseases.</p>