Objectives: We developed a food-borne prophylactic strategy with aloin to protect dental collagen through enhancing the mechanical strength, thermostability, and the resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis of dental collagen. The mechanism and effect of this food-borne prophylactic strategy were examined.
Methods: Aloin solution (0.1 mg/mL) was prepared. The concentration is equivalent to the natural content of aloin in edible aloe. Attenuated total reflectance flourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Gaussian peak fitting, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to explore the mechanism of interaction between aloin and dental collagen in situ. Mechanical strength and thermostability were separately evaluated via Ultimate tensile strength test (UTS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Hydroxyproline (HYP), cross-linked carboxy-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), and C-terminal crosslinked telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) were used as indicators to evaluate the resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis. Wight loss was further tested as macro-parameter to evaluate the effectiveness of aloin on dental collagen stability.
Results: Aloin can interact with dental collagen via hydrogen bonds in humid environment. The interaction shorted the intermolecular distance and enhanced the proportion of stable α-helix chain of dental collagen. Aloin-treated dental collagen exhibited improved mechanical strength, thermostability and enzymatic stability.
Conclusion: Aloin can strongly integrate with dental collagen under physiological conditions via hydrogen bonds and significantly enhance the dental collagen stability.
Clinical Relevance: The use of aloin maybe a daily, nondestructive, and low-cost strategy to protect dental collagen.
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