title: Effect of Punica granatum L. Flower Water Extract on Five Common Oral Bacteria and Bacterial Biofilm Formation on Orthodontic Wire.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Use of herbal extracts and essences as natural antibacterial compounds has become increasingly popular for the control of oral infectious diseases. Therefore, finding natural antimicrobial products with the lowest side effects seems necessary. The present study sought to assess the effect of Punica granatum L. water extract on five oral bacteria and bacterial biofilm formation on orthodontic wire.
  
  
  METHODS
  Antibacterial property of P. granatum L. water extract was primarily evaluated in brain heart infusion agar medium using well-plate method. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration were determined by macro-dilution method. The inhibitory effect on orthodontic wire bacterial biofilm formation was evaluated using viable cell count in biofilm medium. At the final phase, samples were fixed and analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The growth inhibition zone diameter was proportional to the extract concentration. The water extract demonstrated the maximum antibacterial effect on Streptococcus sanguinis ATCC 10556 with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 6.25 mg/ml and maximum bactericidal effect on S. sanguinis ATCC 10556 and S. sobrinus ATCC 27607 with minimum bactericidal concentration of 25 mg/ml. The water extract decreased bacterial biofilm formation by S. sanguinis, S. sobrinus, S. salivarius, S. mutans ATCC 35608 and E. faecalis CIP 55142 by 93.7-100%, 40.6-99.9%, 85.2-86.5%, 66.4-84.4% and 35.5-56.3% respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Punica granatum L. water extract had significant antibacterial properties against 5 oral bacteria and prevented orthodontic wire bacterial biofilm formation. However, further investigations are required to generalize these results to the clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Orthodontic, School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Elahe
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vahid Dastjerdi
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Orthodontic, School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Abdolazimi
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Orthodontic, School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Marzieh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghazanfarian
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Orthodontic, School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Parisa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amdjadi
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Pharmacognosy School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamalinejad
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahboubi
keywords: Antibacterial activity; Bacterial biofilm; Orthodontic wire; Punica granatum L.; Water extract