PMID: 26900321Feb 24, 2016Paper

PCR analysis for assessment of bacterial bioburden in orthokeratology lens cases

Molecular Vision
Jung LoMing-Tse Kuo

Abstract

To develop a PCR gel analysis method for assessing the bacterial bioburden in orthokeratology contact lens (OK) case fluid determined by culture. A prospective study with the participation of 41 OK wearers (20 girls, 21 boys) was performed. The mean OK-wearing experience was 3.5±1.9 years. PCR was used to assess the bacterial bioburden (colony-forming units per milliliter) of OK after removal and soaking in the storage case for 6 h. The signal intensity of the PCR bands was analyzed after grayscale image transformation. The difference (cPCR-d) and ratio (cPCR-r) between a PCR signal and its background were used as two standardized indices of PCR signals. The association between the two indices of the PCR signals and the bacterial bioburden determined by culture were analyzed with Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots. At least one microbe was isolated from the OK lens case from 38 of the 41 subjects. Both cPCR-d and cPCR-r showed strong correlations with the bacterial bioburden (r>0.7, p<0.0001). ROC analysis enabled good determination of the cutoff values for the two PCR indices with acceptable sensitivity and specificity (78-89%) to assess the degree of bacterial contamination...Continue Reading

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