Anticaries Effect of a Component from Shiitake (an Edible Mushroom)

Abstract

The caries–inhibiting effect of the extract from shiitake (Lentinus edodes), the most popular edible mushroom in Japan, was studied both in vitro and in vivo. Shiitake extract showed an inhibitory effect on water–insoluble glucan formation from sucrose by crude glucosyltransferases of Streptococcus mutans JC–2 and Streptococcus sobrinus OMZ–176. The firmly adherent plaque in the artificial plaque formation test was strongly inhibited by shiitake extract. The reduction of firmly adherent plaque caused an increase in the incidence of non– and loosely adherent plaque and a decrease in total plaque formation. A significantly lower caries score was observed in specific pathogen–free rats infected with S. mutans JC–2 and fed with a cariogenic diet containing 0.25% shiitake extract as compared with controls fed the cariogenic diet without shiitake extract.

Antibacterial Activity of Red and White Wine against Oral Streptococci

“…Extracts obtained from different teas affect caries development, as their polyphenol components reduce the production of acidic compounds and the ability of streptococci to synthesize adherent water-insoluble glucan from sucrose with the cooperative action of glucosyltransferase (15)(16)(17). In vivo rat studies of the extract from Lentinus edodes, the most popular edible mushroom in Japan (18), showed an inhibitory effect on water-insoluble glucan formation by glucosyltransferase. A similar effect has been described for apple procyanidins in vitro (19) and for hop bract high molecular weight components (20).…”

Saussurea lappa inhibits the growth, acid production, adhesion, and water-insoluble glucan synthesis of Streptococcus mutans

“…Some natural products are reported to be candidates of new anticariogenic substances (Marsh, 1992;Matsumoto et al, 1999;Namba et al, 1982;Shouji et al, 2000;Wennstrom and Lindhe, 1985). Saussurea lappa (S. lappa) Clarke is a member of Compositae (Han, 1988) and is mainly produced in China (Kang et al, 1999).…”

Inhibition of Acid Production in Dental Plaque Bacteria by Green Tea Catechins

“…The acid production from these bacteria is the main cause of enamel demineralization [Kleinberg, 1970;Mühlemann, 1971]. The possibility of preventing dental caries by the elimination of different pathogenic factors has been reported [Ikeda et al, 1982;Hatta et al, 1997;Shouji et al, 2000;Michalek et al, 2001;Baehni and Takeuchi, 2003]. Catechins from green tea have been reported to have antibacterial [Elvin-Lewis et al, 1980;Sakanaka et al, 1989;Otake et al, 1991;Hamilton-Miller, 2001;Hirasawa et al, 2002], antifungal [Hirasawa and Takada, 2004], antiviral [Nakane and Ono, 1989;Nakayama et al, 1990] and protein-denaturing [Wu-Yuan et al, 1988;Otake et al, 1991;Makimura et al, 1993;Hirasawa et al, 2002] properties.…”