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Updated: Apr 19, 2026
Multiplex Detection of Bacteria in Complex Clinical and Environmental Samples using Oligonucleotide-coupled Fluorescent Microspheres
Published on: October 23, 2011
Detecting Gram-positive anaerobic cocci directly from the clinical samples by multiplex polymerase chain reaction in
Ayşegül Mine Tüzüner Öncül1, Emel Uzunoğlu2, Zeynep Ceren Karahan3
1Associate Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ankara University Faculty of Dentistry, Ankara, Turkey.
Purpose:
Gram-positive anaerobic cocci (GPAC) can be isolated as pathogens from odontogenic infections. Culturing GPAC is time consuming and labor intensive. The objectives of the present study were to examine the utility of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in directly detecting the presence of GPAC in clinical samples obtained from patients with odontogenic infections and to compare the distribution of GPAC in infected and healthy tissue.
Materials And Methods:
In the present case-control study, the infected tissue from patients and oral mucosal swabs from healthy control subjects were subjected to anaerobic culture and direct PCR analysis for the presence of GPAC. The McNemar, chi-square, and Fisher exact tests and kappa analysis were used for the statistical analyses. P < .05 was regarded as significant.
Results:
The patient group included 13 men and 14 women, including 9 patients diagnosed with granulation of tooth extraction, 6 with impacted tooth follicles, 4 with peri-implantitis, 3 with abscesses, 2 with epithelial cysts, 2 with infected cysts, and 1 with an oroantral fistula. The control group included 14 men and 12 women. All the patient and control samples contained at least 1 GPAC. The groups did not differ by method of determining GPAC presence, but more microorganisms were detected when clinical samples were directly used for PCR analysis than when cultured bacteria were used (P = .001).
Conclusions:
The presence of GPAC in infected tissue cannot be directly related to the development of odontogenic infections. PCR performed directly on clinical material is a sensitive and specific method that can detect GPAC and save time.
