An Asymmetric Gas Coculture System for Oral Pathobionts and Gingival Epithelial Cells

Establishing a coculture system that models oral microbial-host interaction can be challenging. The oral cavity harbors a mixture of both anaerobic and aerobic bacteria and is subjected to alternating periods of rich oxygen exposure and oxygen-limited conditions. Here, we model an asymmetric coculture system comprising two oral anaerobic pathobionts-Fusobacterium nucleatum and Porphyromonas gingivalis. This system not only preserves the physiological conditions of both the bacteria and oral gingival epithelial cells but also effectively simulates the behavioral dynamics of pathogen-epithelial cell interactions under physiologically relevant oxygen levels.