Salivary Microbiome and Metabolome in Chronic and Aggressive Periodontitis

Objectives: This pilot study aimed to characterize the microbial community and metabolic profiles, and the link between them in generalized chronic and aggressive periodontitis.
Methods: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with 16S ribosomal RNA gene highthroughput sequencing were performed to explore the changes in metabolites and microorganisms in the saliva of patiens with different forms of periodontitis.
Results: In this pilot study, saliva samples were collected from patients with chronic periodontitis (ChP, n = 13), patients with aggressive periodontitis (AgP, n = 13) and periodontally healthy controls (PH, n = 10). Striking differences were observed in salivary microbiome between periodontitis (ChP and AgP) vs. healthy, but there was no significant difference between AgP and ChP. There were significant differences in salivary metabolites composition among the three groups. The metabolites with significant differences were amino acid derivatives, fatty acids and their related derivatives.There was a close interplay between the salivary microbiome and metabolome.
Conclusions: Dysbiosis in the polymicrobial community structure and changes in metabolism could be mechanisms underlying periodontitis. The differential microorganisms and metabolites in saliva between periodontitis patients and healthy individuals are possibly biomarkers.