title: Susceptibilities of periodontopathogenic and cariogenic bacteria to antibacterial peptides, {beta}-defensins and LL37, produced by human epithelial cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Antimicrobial peptides are one of the factors involved in innate immunity. The susceptibility of periodontopathogenic and cariogenic bacteria to the major antimicrobial peptides produced by epithelia was investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Synthetic antimicrobial peptides of human beta-defensin-1 (hBD1), hBD2, hBD3 and LL37 (CAP18) were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against oral bacteria. They included Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (20 strains), Porphyromonas gingivalis (6), Prevotella intermedia (7), Fusobacterium nucleatum (7), Streptococcus mutans (5), Streptococcus sobrinus (5), Streptococcus salivarius (5), Streptococcus sanguis (4), Streptococcus mitis (2) and Lactobacillus casei (1).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the four peptides had bactericidal activity against all bacteria tested, the degree of antibacterial activity was variable against the different strains and species. The antibacterial activity of hBD1 was lower than that of the other peptides. Among the bacteria tested in this study, F. nucleatum was highly susceptible to hBD3 and LL37, and S. mutans was highly susceptible to hBD3. We measured the Zeta-potential, representing the net charge of whole bacteria, to study the relationship between susceptibility to cationic peptide and the net charge of the bacteria. Although we found some correlation in A. actinomycetemcomitans strains, we did not find a definite correlation with all the bacterial species.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that beta-defensins and LL37 have versatile antibacterial activity against oral bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ouhara
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Komatsuzawa
authors.forename: Sakuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiba
authors.forename: Tamaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohara
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sayama
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Hidemi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: Motoyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugai
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D054804:Cathelicidins; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000502:physiology; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D023083:beta-Defensins / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D054804:Cathelicidins; D023083:beta-Defensins; D012965:Sodium Chloride