Velusamy S K, Markowitz K, Fine D H, Velliyagounder K
RUTGERS School of Dental Medicine, Newark, NJ, USA.
Oral Dis. 2016 Mar;22(2):148-54. doi: 10.1111/odi.12401. Epub 2016 Jan 18.
The objective of this study is to evaluate the importance of human lactoferrin (hLF) in an experimental caries induced by Streptococcus mutans in a lactoferrin-knockout (LFKO(-/-)) mouse model compared with C576J/BL wild-type (WT) mice.
The WT and LFKO(-/-) mice were infected with S. mutans (1 × 10(8) cells) and/or sham infection. Furthermore, the effect of hLF administration was evaluated in LFKO(-/-) mice infected with S. mutans. Mice were assessed for colonization, salivary pH, and caries development.
The results showed that the lactoferrin-knockout infected (LFKO(-/-) I) mice had significantly higher colonization with S. mutans (P = 0.02), lower salivary pH (P = 0.01), and more carious lesions (P = 0.01) when compared to wild-type infected (WTI) mice. In addition, the administration of hLF did not show any evidence of S. mutans colonization as well as carious lesions (P = 0.001) in LFKO(-/-) I mice when compared to untreated LFKO(-/-) I mice.
These results show that endogenous LF protects against S. mutans-induced caries and that exogenous hLF can exert a protective effect against caries development.
本研究的目的是在乳铁蛋白基因敲除（LFKO(-/-)）小鼠模型中，评估人乳铁蛋白（hLF）在变形链球菌诱导的实验性龋齿中的重要性，并与C576J/BL野生型（WT）小鼠进行比较。
WT和LFKO(-/-)小鼠感染变形链球菌（1×10⁸个细胞）和/或假感染。此外，还评估了在感染变形链球菌的LFKO(-/-)小鼠中给予hLF的效果。对小鼠进行定植、唾液pH值和龋齿发展情况的评估。
结果显示，与野生型感染（WTI）小鼠相比，乳铁蛋白基因敲除感染（LFKO(-/-) I）小鼠的变形链球菌定植显著更高（P = 0.02），唾液pH值更低（P = 0.01），龋齿病变更多（P = 0.01）。此外，与未治疗的LFKO(-/-) I小鼠相比，给予hLF的LFKO(-/-) I小鼠未显示出任何变形链球菌定植以及龋齿病变的迹象（P = 0.001）。
这些结果表明内源性乳铁蛋白可预防变形链球菌诱导的龋齿，外源性hLF可对龋齿发展发挥保护作用。
