Nascimento M M
1 Department of Restorative Dental Sciences, Division of Operative Dentistry, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Adv Dent Res. 2018 Feb;29(1):98-103. doi: 10.1177/0022034517735294.
Carious lesions develop in tooth surfaces where there is an imbalance of the processes of acid and alkali production by supragingival biofilms. Since low pH is the main driving factor in the development of carious lesions, most efforts to identify an effective anticaries therapy have focused on targeting the acid-producing bacteria and their mechanisms of acid production. An expanding area of oral microbiology has now been devoted to explore microbial metabolic activities that help to neutralize biofilm pH and thus inhibit the caries process. Arginine metabolism via the arginine deiminase pathway (ADS) produces alkali in the form of ammonia that counteracts the effects of biofilm acidification from bacterial glycolysis. ADS also functions as an adaptive strategy used by certain bacteria to thrive in oral biofilms. Substantial evidence accumulated from laboratory and clinical observations supports the hypotheses that measurements of arginine metabolism via ADS may serve as an important caries risk assessment criterion and that providing arginine regularly to supragingival biofilms can be an effective therapy for caries intervention. This article reviews the potential of arginine-based therapies such as the use of arginine as prebiotic, ADS strains as probiotics, and oral care formulations containing arginine for prevention and management of dental caries.
龋损发生在龈上生物膜产酸和产碱过程失衡的牙表面。由于低pH值是龋损发展的主要驱动因素，大多数寻找有效防龋治疗方法的努力都集中在针对产酸细菌及其产酸机制上。现在，口腔微生物学的一个不断扩大的领域致力于探索有助于中和生物膜pH值从而抑制龋病进程的微生物代谢活动。通过精氨酸脱亚胺酶途径（ADS）进行的精氨酸代谢会产生氨形式的碱，以抵消细菌糖酵解导致的生物膜酸化的影响。ADS也是某些细菌在口腔生物膜中生存的一种适应性策略。从实验室和临床观察积累的大量证据支持以下假设：通过ADS对精氨酸代谢的测量可作为重要的龋病风险评估标准，并且定期向龈上生物膜提供精氨酸可以作为一种有效的龋病干预治疗方法。本文综述了基于精氨酸的治疗方法的潜力，例如使用精氨酸作为益生元、将ADS菌株作为益生菌以及含有精氨酸的口腔护理制剂用于预防和管理龋齿。
