License: This is an open access collection distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
This collection contains protocols for growing a calcifying oral biofilm model. Protocols include artificial saliva, a mineralising solution (CPMU), an alpha-amylase activity assay, and a biofilm growth protocol with starch treatments.
The purpose of these protocols is to explore fundamental aspects of using dental calculus to infer dietary patterns in past populations. The main protocol contains starch treatments to look at the incorporation and extraction of starch granules from dental calculus, but can also be used to look at other dietary components, such as various proteins, other plant extracts, and whatever else may have been consumed in the past.
Protocols are modified protocols from Sissons et al. (1991) and Extercate et al. (2010)
Image Attribution
Image created by Bjørn Peare Bartholdy using BioRender.com
Guidelines
The protocols should be conducted in a sterile environment to avoid contamination of the biofilm with external contaminants.
If starch is used for treatments, it is important to work in a starch-free lab and include control samples in each plate to test for external contamination and cross-contamination between wells.
Bjørn Peare BartholdyDelft University of Technology
Protocol references
Exterkate, R. A. M., Crielaard, W., & Ten Cate, J. M. (2010). Different Response to Amine Fluoride by Streptococcus mutans and Polymicrobial Biofilms in a Novel High-Throughput Active Attachment Model. Caries Research, 44(4), 372–379. https://doi.org/10.1159/000316541
Sissons, C. H., Cutress, T. W., Hoffman, M. P., & Wakefield, J. S. J. (1991). A Multi-station Dental Plaque Microcosm (Artificial Mouth) for the Study of Plaque Growth, Metabolism, pH, and Mineralization: Journal of Dental Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345910700110301
