Cranberry constituents affect fructosyltransferase expression in Streptococcus mutans.

Area of Science:

• Oral microbiology
• Natural product chemistry

Background:

• Cranberry juice is traditionally used for urinary tract infections.
• Its proposed mechanism involves preventing bacterial adhesion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the antiadhesion effects of nondialyzed material of cranberry (NDM).
• To assess NDM's impact on fructosyltransferase (FTF) secretion, gene expression, and promoter activity.
• To understand NDM's role in inhibiting dental biofilm formation by oral bacteria.

Main Methods:

• Measuring FTF secretion using immunoblotting and confocal microscopy.
• Analyzing ftf gene expression via real-time RT-PCR.
• Evaluating FTF promoter activity using a luciferase assay.

Main Results:

• NDM significantly reduced extracellular FTF secretion.
• NDM dose-dependently down-regulated ftf gene expression.
• NDM markedly decreased FTF promoter activity.

Conclusions:

• NDM exhibits antiadhesion properties by inhibiting FTF.
• NDM shows potential in preventing dental biofilm formation and oral bacterial pathogenesis.