Detection of specific microorganism in infected root canals of patients with Diabetes Mellitus using PCR

Background and Aim: The aim of this in vitro study was toevaluate the presence of Enterococcus faecalis, Prevotellaintermedia, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis,Peptostreptococcus micros, Streptococcus spp., and Candidaalbicans in the primary and secondary/persistent infected rootcanals of patients with diabetes mellitus by polymerase chainreaction (PCR).Materials and Methods: Microbial samples were collected from30 root canals of 30 patients with type 2 diabetes, who had eitherprimary (n=15) or secondary/persistent (n=15) root canal infections.PCR was used to detect 6 bacterial and 1 fungal species. DNAextracted from the samples was analysed for the presence of 16SrDNA and then for the target species by species-specific primers.Qualitative variables were statistically analysed via the Pearson chisquaretest, Yates-corrected chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test.The difference between groups in terms of age was analysed viathe independent samples t-test (p = 0.05).Results: 16S rDNA was detected in all the samples. Twentyonesamples produced amplicons with 1 or more of the 6 specificbacterial primer pairs. No amplicons with any of the specificprimers were observed in the 9 samples where 16S rDNA wasdetected. All the microorganisms tested were detected withequal prevalence in both primary and secondary/persistent rootcanal infections (p>0.05). Streptococcus spp. was the mostfrequently detected species in primary (53.3%) and secondary/persistent (46.7%) infections. C. albicans was not detected in anyof the samples. E. faecalis was detected in only one sample ofsecondary/persistent infections.Conclusion: Primary and secondary/persistent root canalinfections in patients with diabetes mellitus had similar microbialcompositions.