Saliva-Derived Commensal and Pathogenic Biofilms in a Human Gingiva Model

In vitro models that closely mimic human host-microbiome interactions can be a powerful screening tool for antimicrobials and will hold great potential for drug validation and discovery. The aim of this study was to develop an organotypic oral mucosa model that could be exposed to in vitro cultured commensal and pathogenic biofilms in a standardized and scalable manner. The oral mucosa model consisted of a tissue-engineered human gingiva equivalent containing a multilayered differentiated gingiva epithelium (keratinocytes) grown on a collagen hydrogel, containing gingiva fibroblasts, which represented the lamina propria. Keratinocyte and fibroblast telomerase reverse transcriptase–immortalized cell lines were used to overcome the limitations of isolating cells from small biopsies when scalable culture experiments were required. The oral biofilms were grown under defined conditions from human saliva to represent 3 distinct phenotypes: commensal, gingivitis, and cariogenic. The in vitro grown biofilms conta...