Neutrophil chemiluminescence in response to Fusobacterium nucleatum

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Abstract
During the interaction of bacteria or other particles with neutrophils, oxygen consumption is increased, and unstable reduction products are produced. Chemiluminescence is the light energy produced in the neutrophil by the generation of unstable oxygen radicals. These oxygen radicals are thought to be important in the destruction of bacteria as well as host tissues. Therefore, we wanted to investigate the ability of Gram‐negative plaque bacteria to stimulate neutrophil chemiluminescencein vitro.The major groups of bacteria examined wereFusobacterium, Bacteroides, Capnocytophaga. Selenomonas. and Trcponema. Of these bacteria,Fusobacterium nucleatumhad by far the greatest ability to stimulate neuirophil chemiluminescence in the absence of serum. Our results suggest that stimulation of neutrophil chemiluminescence byF. nucleatumis mediated by a protein moiety on the bacterial cell surface. This conclusion is supponed by experiments demonstrating significant inhibition of neuirophil chemiluminescence by heat, 2% formalin, or trypsin pre‐treatment ofF nucleatum. Also, neutrophil chemiluminescence was stimulated in a similar fashion with intactF. nucleatumonly by the cellassociation centrifugation pellet of sonicatedF. nucleatum. The monosaccharide D‐galactose. which is a component of erythrocyte glycoproteins andF. nucleatumlipopolysaccharide. caused significant inhibition of neutrophil chemiluminescence at 100 mM final concentration. The unusual and pronounced ability ofFusobacterium nucleatumto stimulate neuirophil chemituminescence in the absence of serum might be important in the pathogenicity and/or host defense in periodontal disease.