Oral health... and your eyes??
- Cells, Microbes, Immunity
- May 20, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 19, 2020
*** This paper does not conclude that P.gingivalis is a factor of AMD. This only states that the bacteria COULD be a player within this disease. More insight into AMD itself and whether P. gingivalis or other bacteria can be isolated from the site needs to be done before a more definite conclusion can be made.***
P. gingivalis is a bacteria known to be associated with Periodontal disease (PD). A correlation between periodontal disease and the disease AMD (age-related macular degeneration) has also been reported. AMD is the most common eye disease that leads to blindness. An earlier paper showed that little hair-like things coming out of the bacteria (known as fimbriae) can help P. gingivalis enter an immune cell called the Dendritic Cell (DC). These cells are able to move around the bloodstream and the lymphatic system acting as mobile surveillance for the body. In this paper, P. gingivalis was able to enter a cell-line (a strain of cells used for experiments) that models a particular type of cell found in the back of your eyes. These cells are the infection site for AMD. Since there is a correlation between PD and AMD, these PD-causing bacteria are able to move around the blood in a Trojan Horse fashion within DCs, and they are able to infect these cells within the eye, there is a possibility that P. gingivalis is a player in AMD disease.
Check out the paper below:
AGAIN: this paper is only showing that P. gingivalis is able to infect these cells and they may be able to travel through the blood using DCs. There is no actual proof as of yet whether the bacteria is actually found at the site of AMD infections!!
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