Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China.
J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2013 Aug;23(8):1070-5. doi: 10.4014/jmb.1212.12035.
Streptococcus mutans is the primary etiological agent of dental caries. The antimicrobial peptide D-Nal-Pac-525 was designed by replacing the tryptophans of the Trp-rich peptide Pac-525 with D-β-naphthyalanines. To assess the effect of D-Nal-Pac-525 on cariogenic bacteria, the activity of D-Nal-Pac-525 on the growth of S. mutans and its biofilm formation were examined. D-Nal- Pac-525 showed robust antimicrobial activity against S. mutans (minimum inhibitory concentration of 4 μg/ml). Using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, it was shown that D-Nal-Pac-525 caused morphological changes and damaged the cell membrane of S. mutans. D-Nal-Pac-525 inhibited biofilm formation of S. mutans at 2 μg/ml. The results of this study suggest that D-Nal-Pac-525 has great potential for clinical application as a dental caries-preventing agent.
变形链球菌是龋齿的主要病因。抗菌肽 D-Nal-Pac-525 通过用 D-β-萘丙氨酸取代 Trp 丰富肽 Pac-525 中的色氨酸而设计。为了评估 D-Nal-Pac-525 对致龋菌的影响，研究了 D-Nal-Pac-525 对变形链球菌生长及其生物膜形成的活性。D-Nal-Pac-525 对变形链球菌具有强大的抗菌活性（最小抑菌浓度为 4 μg/ml）。扫描电子显微镜和透射电子显微镜显示，D-Nal-Pac-525 导致变形链球菌形态发生变化并破坏细胞膜。D-Nal-Pac-525 在 2 μg/ml 时抑制变形链球菌生物膜形成。本研究结果表明，D-Nal-Pac-525 作为一种预防龋齿的药物具有很大的临床应用潜力。
