Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan No.1 University Road, East District, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Dec 13;21(24):9481. doi: 10.3390/ijms21249481.
() is widely regarded as the main cause of human dental caries via three main virulence factors: adhesion, acidogenicity, and aciduricity. Citric acid is one of the antibiotic agents that can inhibit the virulence capabilities of . A full understanding of the acidic resistance mechanisms (ARMs) causing bacteria to thrive in citrate transport is still elusive. We propose atomic force microscopy (AFM) equipped with a fluid cell to study the ARMs via surface nanomechanical properties at citric acid pH 3.3, 2.3, and 1.8. Among these treatments, at pH 1.8, the effect of the citric acid shock in cells is demonstrated through a significantly low number of high adhesion zones, and a noticeable reduction in adhesion forces. Consequently, this study paves the way to understand that ARMs are associated with the variation of the number of adhesion zones on the cell surface, which is influenced by citrate and proton transport. The results are expected to be useful in developing antibiotics or drugs involving citric acid for dental plaque treatment.
（）被广泛认为是导致人类龋齿的主要原因，它通过三种主要的毒力因子：黏附性、产酸能力和耐酸性。柠檬酸是一种可以抑制的毒力的抗生素药物之一。充分了解导致细菌在柠檬酸转运中茁壮成长的酸性抵抗机制（ARMs）仍然难以捉摸。我们建议使用配备有流体池的原子力显微镜（AFM）通过表面纳米力学特性在柠檬酸 pH 值 3.3、2.3 和 1.8 下研究 ARMs。在这些处理中，在 pH 值 1.8 下，柠檬酸冲击对细胞的影响通过明显较少的高黏附区域和显著降低的黏附力来证明。因此，这项研究为理解 ARMs 与细胞表面黏附区域数量的变化有关铺平了道路，而这受柠檬酸和质子转运的影响。这些结果有望用于开发涉及柠檬酸的抗生素或药物，以治疗牙菌斑。
