Bong-Kyu Choi

In vitro antimicrobial activity of a chitooligosaccharide mixture against Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Streptococcus mutans

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activity of a chitooligosaccharide mixture (MW 2000-30000 Da) with a deacetylation degree of 91.5% against two representative oral pathogens, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Streptococcus mutans. A 0.1% concentration of the chitooligosaccharides (derived from the exoskeletons of marine crustaceans) was used to estimate antibacterial activity. Approximately 2 logcolony forming units (CFU)/ml of A. actinomycetemcomitans were inactivated by 0.1% chitosan after 30 min, while 120 min exposure inactivated about 4.5 logCFU/ml of this organism. In contrast, the level of inactivation against S. mutans was less than 0.5 logCFU/ml after an exposure of up to 120 min. Electron microscopy showed that the exposure of A. actinomycetemcomitans to the chitooligosaccharides resulted in the disruption of cell membranes and that it could be considered for the treatment of periodontal diseases associated with A. actinomycetemcomitans.

Molecular Epidemiology and Association of Putative Pathogens in Root Canal Infection

The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of putative pathogens in root canals with apical periodontitis and to determine the associations among the putative pathogens. Eighteen symptomatic and 20 asymptomatic teeth from 36 subjects were studied. This research was performed with polymerase chain reaction and hybridization using rRNA-based oligonucleotide probes. The most frequently found species was Fusobacterium sp. (68.4%), followed by Peptostreptococcus micros (44.7%) and Porphyromonas gingivalis (26.3%). Sixteen teeth (42.1%) contained one or more species of the selected black-pigmented bacteria. Bacteroides forsythus and Treponema sp. were detected in 8 teeth and 6 teeth, respectively. Among the analyzed bacteria, significant relationships were shown in the combination of B. forsythus/P. gingivalis and Treponema sp./P. gingivalis. There was no significant association between any bacteria and any symptoms.

The inhibitory effect of alendronate and taurine on osteoclast differentiation mediated by Porphyromonas gingivalis sonicates in vitro.

The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of alendronate and taurine in inhibiting in vitro osteoclast differentiation induced by bacteria. Whole cell sonicates of Porphyromonas gingivalis were used as an osteoclast-stimulating factor in a mouse coculture system and differentiated osteoclasts were confirmed by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining. Alendronate at the concentrations of 10(-7) M, 10(-6) M, and 10(-5) M and taurine at the concentrations of 4 mM, 8 mM, and 12 mM were used. The cytotoxic effects of alendronate and taurine were examined using methylthiazole-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The amounts of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in culture supernatants were also measured using ELISA. The sonicates of P. gingivalis at the concentration of 0.01-0.1 microg/ml significantly stimulated the formation of osteoclasts (p < 0.05). Alendronate (10(-5) M) and taurine (12 mM) significantly suppressed the sonicate-stimulated osteoclast formation. In MTT assay, no cytotoxic effects were evident in all concentrations of alendronate and taurine. Alendronate and taurine did not affect the amount of IL-6 induced by P. gingivalis sonicates. These data indicate that alendronate and taurine have inhibitory effects on bacteria-stimulated osteoclast formation in vitro and that this inhibitory mechanism is not related to the blocking of IL-6 production.