Katuromunda Markarius, Ssekatawa Kenneth, Niwagaba Silivano
Department of Pharmacognosy, Kampala International University, Western Campus, Bushenyi, Uganda.
Department of Science, Technical and Vocational Education, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Infect Drug Resist. 2024 Oct 4;17:4291-4299. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S474810. eCollection 2024.
Dental caries has gained momentum as one of the main public healthcare concerns worldwide. Although the occurrence of dental caries in Uganda is on the rise, little attention has been paid to promoting oral healthcare in the country. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the extracts, and root bark ethanolic extract as candidate alternative therapeutic agents for the causative agent of dental caries.
In this study, the citrus lemon juice, pulp citrus lemon juice, and ethanolic extract were screened for phytochemicals. Furthermore, the anti- activity of the citrus lemon juice, citrus lemon pulp juice, and ethanolic extract was determined by the agar well diffusion method while the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration were determined by serial broth dilution.
Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, and tannins in the ethanolic extract and citrus lemon juices, while glycosides were only detected in lemon extracts. The zones of inhibition of ethanolic extract, citrus lemon juice, citrus lemon pulp juice, and the cocktail were 13.67 ± 0.33 mm, 18.67 ± 0.33 mm, 18.33 ± 0.67 mm, and 18.00 ± 0.58 mm, respectively. The citrus lemon juice and citrus lemon pulp juice exhibited significantly lower MIC of 0.195 mg/mL, and 0.391mg/mL, respectively. The efficacy of the extract/juices increased with an increase in the concentration.
The study findings revealed that ethanolic extract and lemon extracts have potent antibacterial activity against the main causative agent of dental caries; thus, can be further explored to formulate a herbal concoction for the prevention and treatment of oral cavity infections in resources-limited low-income communities.
龋齿已成为全球主要的公共卫生问题之一。尽管乌干达龋齿的发病率在上升，但该国在促进口腔卫生保健方面的关注却很少。因此，本研究旨在评估柑橘柠檬汁、柑橘柠檬果肉汁和根皮乙醇提取物作为龋齿病原体候选替代治疗剂的效果。
在本研究中，对柑橘柠檬汁、柑橘柠檬果肉汁和乙醇提取物进行了植物化学物质筛选。此外，采用琼脂孔扩散法测定柑橘柠檬汁、柑橘柠檬果肉汁和乙醇提取物的抗菌活性，采用肉汤稀释法测定最低抑菌浓度和最低杀菌浓度。
植物化学物质筛选显示，乙醇提取物和柑橘柠檬汁中存在生物碱、黄酮类化合物、萜类化合物和单宁，而糖苷仅在柠檬提取物中检测到。乙醇提取物、柑橘柠檬汁、柑橘柠檬果肉汁和混合液的抑菌圈直径分别为13.67±0.33毫米、18.67±0.33毫米、18.33±0.67毫米和18.00±0.58毫米。柑橘柠檬汁和柑橘柠檬果肉汁的最低抑菌浓度分别显著较低，为0.195毫克/毫升和0.391毫克/毫升。提取物/果汁的疗效随浓度增加而提高。
研究结果表明，乙醇提取物和柠檬提取物对龋齿的主要病原体具有强大的抗菌活性；因此，可以进一步探索将其制成草药配方，用于资源有限的低收入社区预防和治疗口腔感染。
