Inhibitory Effects of Apple Polyphenols and Related Compounds on Cariogenic Factors of Mutans Streptococci

Abstract

The inhibitory effects of apple polyphenols (APP) on the synthesis of water-insoluble glucans by glucosyltransferases (GTF) of streptococci of the mutans group and on the sucrose-dependent adherence of the bacterial cells were examined in vitro. APP markedly inhibited the activity of GTF purified from the cariogenic bacterial cells. However, APP showed no significant effect on the growth of the cariogenic bacteria. The strongest GTF inhibitors in APP were apple condensed tannins (ACT), a mixture of procyanidins. The 50% inhibitory doses of ACT against the GTF of S. sobrinus and that of S. mutans were 1.5 microgram/mL and 5 microgram/mL, respectively. The ACT efficacy largely depended upon the degree of polymerization. Interestingly, while the other polyphenols known to inhibit GTF such as tannic acid markedly inhibited salivary alpha-amylase activity, APP and ACT only scarcely inhibited that enzyme activity. This means that APP and ACT might selectively inhibit the bacterial GTF activity under oral conditions.

Antibacterial Activity of Red and White Wine against Oral Streptococci

“…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). Cacao mass extract displayed cariostatic activity in vitro and in animal experiments (21).…”

Influence of the antioxidant content of saliva on dental caries in an at-risk community

“…Substances such as polyphenols that are present in various foodstuffs have been shown to have anticariogenic activity, by inhibiting the adherence of Strep tococcus mutans to the dental plaque. 17 This effect seems to depend more upon the inhibitory activity of polyphenols on Streptococcus glucosyltransferase and on the synthesis of glucans than on their antioxidant activity.…”

Enhancing polyphenol extraction from unripe apples by carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzymes

“…A small part of them are utilized as ingredients for animal feed and fertilizer, although this practice poses some environmental and ecological problems (Sudha et al, 2007). Unripe apples contain fairly high levels of polyphenol (Adil et al, 2007;Sudha et al, 2007), which has been reported to have various physiological functions including anti-allergic activity (Kojima et al, 2000;Akiyama et al, 2005), anti-cancer activity (Yanagida et al, 2000), and anti-arteriosclerosis activity (D'Angelo et al, 2007). Some of the agricultural solid by-products like fruit pomace and peel had also been studied for their potential exploitation because of the high contents of polyphenol (Makris et al, 2007).…”