Relationship of Salivary Tryptophane to Lactobacillus Colony Morphology and Dental Caries.

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Abstract
Addition of 0.004-0.02% dl-tryptophan or indol to some media induced a rough to smooth dissociation in colony morphology of some strains of oral lactobacilli. This dissociation was readily reversed, was apparently not a selection, and was unaccompanied by gross changes in physiology. Chemical analysis for tryptophan and indol in salivas of naturally caries-free and caries-susceptible humans indicated an association of greater amounts of such compounds with the caries-free group. Artificial increase in amount of salivary tryptophan in caries-susceptible subjects did not result in any marked change in colony morphology of their salivary lactobacilli. Tryptophan-induced rough to smooth variation in lactobacilli is different from a similar dissociation which occurs in saliva of naturally caries-free individuals.

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