Short chain fatty acids produced by anaerobic bacteria inhibit adhesion and proliferation of periodontal ligament fibroblasts.

Short chain fatty acids (SCFA) are metabolic by-products of anaerobic bacteria present in the periodontal pocket. We examined the effect of SCFA on cultured human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDLF). PDLF were challenged with propionate, butyrate and succinate.

Progressive 13-cis-retinoic acid dosage in the treatment of oral leukoplakia.

16 patients with oral leukoplakia were treated with oral 13-cis-retinoic acid. The initial dose, given for 3 months, was 0.2 mg/kg/day, increasing by a further 0.

Treatment of oral leukoplakia with beta-carotene.

Over the past few years, beta-carotene has progressively gained ground as a drug chosen in the treatment of oral leukoplakias, thus making it possible to reduce the use of 13-cis-retinoic acid, which was shown by many studies to be highly toxic while beta-carotene has proved to have no significant side effects and hence to be much more suitable in oral premalignancy. In 1989, a phase II study of patients showing oral leukoplakias and treated with beta-carotene (90 mg/day) was begun. A total of 23 patients (aged between 17 and 85) were included in the study and 18 (8 male and 10 female) were evaluated.

[The therapy of odontogenic abscesses. Pharmacological experimentation with lincomycin or amoxicillin].

A clinical and microbiological study was carried out to assess the therapeutic efficacy of two different antibiotics, lincomycin and amoxicillin, in the treatment of patients suffering from odontogenic abscesses. Microbiological analyses revealed that the majority of infections were supported by mixed aerobic and anaerobic bacterial flora. The assessment of clinical parameters clearly showed that patients receiving pharmacological treatment with lincomycin achieved a more rapid and efficacious recovery from disease in comparison to patients treated with amoxicillin.

Divergent effect of the anaerobic bacteria by-product butyric acid on the immune response: suppression of T-lymphocyte proliferation and stimulation of interleukin-1 beta production.

The effects of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) produced by anaerobic bacteria, namely propionic, butyric and iso-butyric on T-cell proliferation was investigated. A dose-dependent inhibition of both phytohemagglutinin-induced blastogenesis and mixed lymphocyte culture was observed in the millimolar range of SCFA concentrations. The tested SCFA displayed different levels of suppression.