On the Red Fluorescence Emission of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

• A number of studies have indicated that bacteria able to emit red fluorescence can be detected by light in-duced fluorescence technique and killed by photody-namic therapy. The objective of this study was to in-vestigate the red fluorescence properties of the single gram negative capnophilic bacterium Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, ATCC 33384, and to investi-gate if these properties were related to the growth, morphology and size of the bacterial colonies. Time trend assessment was made with red fluorescence by QLF (Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence), as well as with white light digital imaging. It was dem-onstrated that A. actinomycetemcomitans, a single cap-nophilic bacterium, is able to produce red fluores-cence on its own, i.e. in the absence of other bacteria strains, and that blood agar is necessary to obtain red fluorescence from this bacterium on culture plates. This bacterium formed smooth circular, bell/dome like colonies increasing in size with time exhibiting various red fluorescence behaviors. A large variation in the fluorescence behavior points out an inhomoge-neous distribution of red fluorescence within and be-tween the colonies, i.e. the size of the investigated colonies did not correlate with the red fluorescence area, suggesting a dependence on the colony mor-phology such as the colony growth in height. To our knowledge this is the first study that have shown that A. actinomycetemcomitans on its own is able to pro-duce fluorescence in the red spectral region.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Analytisk kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Analytical Chemistry (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

Red Fluorescence

Porphyrin

Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence

QLF

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