Int J Oral Biol.  2011 Mar;36(1):7-11.

Antimicrobial Effects of Ursolic Acid against Mutans Streptococci Isolated from Koreans

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Oral Biochemistry and Oral Biology Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Chosun University, Gwangju 501-759, Korea. jkkook@chosun.ac.kr
  • 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical School, Chosun University, Gwangju 501-759, Korea.
  • 3Dental Research Institute and Department of Orthodontics, College of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 110-749, Korea.
  • 4Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture, Yanbian University, Jilin Province, China.
  • 5Department of Restorative Sciences, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.

Abstract

Ursolic acid is a triterpenoid compound present in many plants. This study examined the antimicrobial activity of ursolic acid against mutans streptococci (MS) isolated from the Korean population. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and time kill curves of MS. The cytotoxicity of ursolic acid against KB cells was tested using an MTT assay. The MIC90 values of ursolic acid for Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus isolated from the Korean population were 2 microg/ml and 4 microg/ml, respectively. Ursolic acid had a bactericidal effect on S. mutans ATCC 25175T and S. sobrinus ATCC 33478T at > 2 x MIC (4 microg/ml) and 4 x MIC (8 microg/ml), respectively. Ursolic acid had no cytotoxic effect on KB cells at concentrations at which it exerted antimicrobial effects. The results suggest that ursolic acid can be used in the development of oral hygiene products for the prevention of dental caries.

Keyword

antimicrobial effect; Streptococcus mutans; Streptococcus sobrinus; ursolic acid

MeSH Terms

Dental Caries
Humans
KB Cells
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Oral Hygiene
Streptococcus mutans
Streptococcus sobrinus
Triterpenes
Triterpenes
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