Volatile composition of the morning breath.

We have measured the composition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the morning breath of 30 healthy individuals before and after tooth brushing. The concentrations of VOCs in the breath samples were measured with proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS) and further identification was performed with a combination of solid phase microextraction and offline gas chromatography-MS. We hypothesize that compounds, whose concentrations significantly decreased in the breath after tooth brushing are largely of microbial origin. In this study, we found 35 such VOCs. Out of these, 33 have been previously connected to different oral niches, such as salivary and subgingival bacteria. We also compared the concentrations of the 35 VOCs found in increased amounts in the morning breath to their respective odor thresholds to evaluate their ability to cause odor. Compounds that could contribute to the breath odor include many volatile sulfur compounds, such as methanethiol, hydrogen sulfide, dimethyl sulfide, and 2-methyl-1-propanethiol, but also other VOCs, such as acetic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid, acetaldehyde, octanal, phenol, indole, ammonia, isoprene, and methyl methacrylate.

Antibiotic treatment and supplemental hemin availability affect the volatile organic compounds produced by P. gingivalis in vitro.

We have measured the changes in the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by the oral pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis, when treated in vitro with the antibiotic amoxicillin. We have also measured the VOC production of P. gingivalis grown in the presence and absence of supplemental hemin. Planktonic bacterial cultures were treated with different amounts of amoxicillin in the lag phase of the bacterial growth. Planktonic bacteria were also cultured with and without supplemental hemin in the culture medium. Concentrations of VOCs were measured with proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) and further molecular identification was done with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using solid phase microextraction (SPME) for sampling. The cell growth of P. gingivalis in the cultures was estimated with optical density measurements at the wavelength of 600 nm (OD600). We found that the production of methanethiol, hydrogen sulfide and several short- to medium-chain fatty acids was decreased with antibiotic treatment using amoxicillin. Compounds found to increase with the antibiotic treatment were butyric acid and indole. In cultures without supplemental hemin, indole and short- to medium-chain fatty acid production was significantly reduced. Acetic acid production was found to increase when supplemental hemin was not available. Our results suggest that the metabolic effects of both antibiotic treatment and supplemental hemin availability are reflected in the VOCs produced by P. gingivalis and could be used as markers for bacterial cell growth and response to threat. Analysis of these volatiles from human samples, such as the exhaled breath, could be used in the future to rapidly monitor response to antibacterial treatment.

Identifying volatile in vitro biomarkers for oral bacteria with proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

We have measured the volatile fingerprints of four pathogenic oral bacteria connected to periodontal disease and dental abscess: Porphyromonas gingivalis (three separate strains), Prevotella intermedia, Prevotella nigrescens and Tannerella forsythia. Volatile fingerprints were measured in vitro from the headspace gas of the bacteria cultured on agar. Concrete identification of new and previously reported bacterial volatiles were performed by a combination of solid phase microextraction (SPME) and offline gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). We also studied the effect of the reduced electric field strength (E/N) on the fragmentation patterns of bacterial volatiles in online proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS). We aimed to discover possible new biomarkers for the studied oral bacteria, as well as to validate the combination of GC-MS and PTR-MS for volatile analysis. Some of the most promising compounds produced include: 1-Methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (1MeTIQ), indole, and a cascade of sulphur compounds, such as methanethiol, dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) and dimethyl trisulphide (DMTS). We also found that several compounds, especially alcohols, aldehydes and esters, fragment significantly with the PTR-MS method, when high E/N values are used. We conclude that the studied oral bacteria can be separated by their volatile fingerprints in vitro, which could have importance in clinical and laboratory environments. In addition, using softer ionization conditions can improve the performance of the PTR-MS method in the volatile analysis of certain compounds.

Genetic Profile of Endotoxemia Reveals an Association With Thromboembolism and Stroke.

Background Translocation of lipopolysaccharide from gram-negative bacteria into the systemic circulation results in endotoxemia. In addition to acute infections, endotoxemia is detected in cardiometabolic disorders, such as cardiovascular diseases and obesity. Methods and Results We performed a genome-wide association study of serum lipopolysaccharide activity in 11 296 individuals from 6 different Finnish study cohorts. Endotoxemia was measured by limulus amebocyte lysate assay in the whole population and by 2 other techniques (Endolisa and high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry) in subpopulations. The associations of the composed genetic risk score of endotoxemia and thrombosis-related clinical end points for 195 170 participants were analyzed in FinnGen. Lipopolysaccharide activity had a genome-wide significant association with 741 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 5 independent loci, which were mainly located at genes affecting the contact activation of the coagulation cascade and lipoprotein metabolism and explained 1.5% to 9.2% of the variability in lipopolysaccharide activity levels. The closest genes included KNG1, KLKB1, F12, SLC34A1, YPEL4, CLP1, ZDHHC5, SERPING1, CBX5, and LIPC. The genetic risk score of endotoxemia was associated with deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary heart disease, and venous thromboembolism. Conclusions The biological activity of lipopolysaccharide in the circulation (ie, endotoxemia) has a small but highly significant genetic component. Endotoxemia is associated with genetic variation in the contact activation pathway, vasoactivity, and lipoprotein metabolism, which play important roles in host defense, lipopolysaccharide neutralization, and thrombosis, and thereby thromboembolism and stroke.

On-line profiling of volatile compounds produced in vitro by pathogenic oral bacteria.

Infections by oral pathogens are one of the most common health problems worldwide. Due to the intimate connection between exhaled breath and the oral cavity, breath analysis could potentially be used to diagnose these infections. However, little is known about the volatile emissions of important oral pathogens that are connected with gingivitis and periodontitis. In this study, we have performed in vitro headspace measurements on four important oral pathogens (P. gingivalis, T. forsythia, P. intermedia and P. nigrescens) using proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS). Some of the most abundant compounds produced by the bacteria include hydrogen sulphide, methanethiol, acetone, dimethylsulphide, isoprene, cyclopentanone and indole as tentatively assigned from the mass spectra. Several other abundant mass signals were recorded but the assignment of these is less certain. Some of the bacterial species can be separated from each other by the emitted volatile fingerprints. The results of this study can be used in potential development of a diagnostic breath test for oral infections. In addition, as several of the measured compounds are known to be toxic, the results point to an intriguing possibility of studying the connection between the bacterial virulence and the emitted volatile compounds.

Detection of hydrogen cyanide from oral anaerobes by cavity ring down spectroscopy.

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) has been recognized as a potential biomarker for non-invasive diagnosis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in the lung. However, the oral cavity is a dominant production site for exhaled HCN and this contribution can mask the HCN generated in the lung. It is thus important to understand the sources of HCN production in the oral cavity. By screening of oral anaerobes for HCN production, we observed that the genus of Porphyromonas, Prevotella and Fusobacterium generated low levels of HCN in vitro. This is the first study to show that oral anaerobes are capable of producing HCN in vitro. Further investigations were conducted on the species of P. gingivalis and we successfully detected HCN production (0.9-10.9 ppb) in the headspace of three P. gingivalis reference strains (ATCC 33277, W50 and OMG 434) and one clinical isolate. From P. gingivalis ATCC 33277 and W50, a strong correlation between HCN and CO2 concentrations (rs = 0.89, p < 0.001) was observed, indicating that the HCN production of P. gingivalis might be connected with the bacterial metabolic activity. These results indicate that our setup could be widely applied to the screening of in vitro HCN production by both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.