Tabari Biomedical Student Research Journal

Background & Objectives: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) involves the severe obstruction of the airways. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method with high sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and time-efficiency, which could be used for the identification of different pathogens, especially Mycoplasma pneumonia. This study was performed for the molecular detection of M. pneumonia isolated from the pulmonary secretions of patients with COPD.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted during 12 months (November 2013-2014) in Kerman, Iran. After genomic DNA extraction using CinnaPure DNA kit, molecular detection of M. pneumonia strains was performed with a specific primer for P1 gene using a gradient thermocycler. 
Results: In total, 100 respiratory secretion samples were collected from COPD patients. Analysis of agarose gel electrophoresis for the evaluation of PCR products of the P1 gene indicated 76 samples (76%) to be positive for this gene. Therefore, M. pneumonia genome could be detected in these samples.
Conclusion: M. pneumonia is considered as a significant risk factor in patients with COPD. In comparison with other methods, PCR has higher sensitivity and specificity as opposed to culture, which requires live bacteria.