Screening and Scoring of Antimicrobial and Biological Activities of Italian Vulnerary Plants against Major Oral Pathogenic Bacteria

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the activity of Italian vulnerary plants against the most important oral pathogenic bacteria. This estimate was accomplished through a fivefold process: (a) a review of ethnobotanical and microbiological data concerning the Italian vulnerary plants; (b) the development of a scoring system to rank the plants; (c) the comparative assessment of microbiological properties; (d) the assessment of potential cytotoxic effects on keratinocyte-like cells and gingival fibroblasts in culture by XTT cell viability assay; (e) clinical evaluation of the most suitable plant extract as antibacterial agent in a home-made mouthwash. The study assays hexane (H), ethanol (E), and water (W) extracts from 72 plants. The agar diffusion method was used to evaluate the activity against Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sobrinus, Lactobacillus casei, and Actinomyces viscosus. Twenty-two plants showed appreciable activity. The extracts showing the strongest antibacterial power were those from Cotinus coggygria Scop., Equisetum hyemale L., Helichrysum litoreum Guss, Juniperus communis L., and Phyllitis scolopendrium (L.) Newman subsp. scolopendrium. The potential cytotoxic effect of these extracts was assessed. On the basis of these observations, a mouth-rinse containing the ethanolic extract of H. litoreum has been tested in vivo, resulting in reduction of the salivary concentration of S. mutans.

Antiproliferative Properties Against Human Breast, Cervical and Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines, and Antioxidant Capacity of Leaf Aqueous Ethanolic Extract from Cotinus coggygria Scop.

“…Our results, revealing weak effect of the herb extract on the cell proliferation of the non-cancerous cell line MCF10A compared to the cancer cells, are indicative for considerable selectivity in the antiproliferative effect. In regard to the cytotoxic properties towards non-cancerous cell lines a publication reported that ethanol and water extracts of the herb decreased cell viability of human gingival fi broblasts (HGF-1) and keratinocytes (HaCaT) in concentration of 5 mg/ ml, which is much higher than the doses applied in the present study [8].…”

Is Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni a Non Cariogenic Sweetener? A Review

“…Because the current therapeutic strategies to prevent dental diseases are not entirely void of side effects, it should be necessary to develop new alternative approaches for clinical bacterial control. Recent research has demonstrated that plant extracts may be a suitable alternative treatment for caries [61][62][63][64][65]. Several plants products have been studied for their capability to contrast dental plaque formation, but a very limited number of these natural products has found therapeutic application, such as compounds rich in polyphenols [62].…”

Antimicrobial activity of the chloroform fraction of <i>Drynaria <i>fortunei</i></i> against oral pathogens

“…A large range of plant extracts have been shown to have antimicrobial effects and this can contribute to the development of new drugs, thus generating a significant improvement in management of various health disorders (20,32,33).…”