Comparison of methods for the evaluation of the oral microbiota of mice

Abstract

To develop a mouse model, in which we could study the effect of environmental parameters on oral microbial populations, suitable sampling and microbial identification techniques were needed. Four methods of bacterial detection, i.e., indirect microimmunofluorescence, immuno-dot-blot, immuno-colony-blot and selective media, were compared using known mixtures of bacteria previously isolated from mice and freshly collected samples from the oral cavity of BALB/c mice. Furthermore, three methods of sampling the oral cavity, i.e., collection of saliva, swabbing and tissue dissection, were used to compare the bacterial distribution of the oral microflora. Our results indicate that swabbing is the superior sampling method and that the immuno-colony-blot assay is the more suitable technique for the detection of the different bacterial species present in the samples.