The first days of life: incidence of the commensal-turned pathogen Fusobacterium nucleatum and VSCs in oral cavity of mothers and newborns.

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of different anaerobic periodontal bacteria in the tongue surface of the mothers and the new-borns from 0 to 48 months of birth. In addition, in these subjects, we have also monitored the volatile sulphur compounds: H2S, CH3S, (CH3)2S to investigate the tongue protease activity, especially in the first days of life. Methods: Fifty new-borns and forty mothers (from 22 to 48 years, mean 37) were recruited in this study. For each subject we have analysed: (i) the VSCs profile in the breath by OralChroma™ instrument, (ii) the amount of five periodontal pathogens in the tongue swab’s DNA: Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Prevotella intermedia and Fusobacterium nucleatum, by using real time PCR procedure. Results 75% of the mothers showed, in the breath, physiological levels of VSCs, while 15% presented a stable high amount of H2S (> 112 ppb). Instead, in all observed new-borns the results suggest a progressive production of oral H2S correlated with the months of life; this was also statistically associated with a significant progressive enrichment in the tongue of the anaerobic bacterium F. nucleatum, in addition we have observed that 92,5 % of mothers resulted positive for this microorganism. Conclusions The increase of H2S production and F. nucleatum, age dependent in all children, suggests a physiological role of this bacterium in oral cavity already in the first days of life. Following the experimental hypothesis of Starkenmann and collaborators, this microorganism could be useful in the tongue biofilm for modulating the smell/taste. In this context, the mothers could have a crucial position in this process, transmitting this anaerobic bacterium by saliva to oral cavity of the newborn. Starkenmann et al., J Agric Food Chem. 2008:9575-80.