Propionibacterium acnes biofilm is present in intervertebral discs of patients undergoing microdiscectomy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In previous studies, Propionibacterium acnes was cultured from intervertebral disc tissue of ~25% of patients undergoing microdiscectomy, suggesting a possible link between chronic bacterial infection and disc degeneration. However, given the prominence of P. acnes as a skin commensal, such analyses often struggled to exclude the alternate possibility that these organisms represent perioperative microbiologic contamination. This investigation seeks to validate P. acnes prevalence in resected disc cultures, while providing microscopic evidence of P. acnes biofilm in the intervertebral discs.

Methods

Specimens from 368 patients undergoing microdiscectomy for disc herniation were divided into several fragments, one being homogenized, subjected to quantitative anaerob

SUBMITTER: Capoor MN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5378350 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature