Antimicrobial activity of Bifidobacterium spp. isolated from healthy adult Koreans against cariogenic microflora.

Objective: Dental caries is the main common infectious disease in the human oral cavity. Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus were reported to be the most important etiological factors in human dental caries. Thus, we examined the inhibitory effects of Bifidobacterium spp. cells and culture supernatants against S. mutans and S. sobrinus, including Streptococcus gordonii, and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, which is associated with periodontal disease.

Methods: Mutans streptococci or A. actinomycetemcomitans and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were mixed in 1:1 ratio and then incubated for 90 min at 37°C. After the incubation, the viability of mutans streptococci or A. actinomycetemcomitans was determined by plate count technique. We also investigated the morphological changes of S. mutans treated with LAB using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Results: In vitro viability of S. mutans, S. sobrinus, S. gordonii, and A. actinomycetemcomitans was affected by human intestinal LAB identified as Bifidobacterium adolescentis SPM1005 and Bifidobacterium longum SPM1207. Especially, B. adolescentis SPM1005 cells at 1.0 × 10(8) CFU had a strong growth-inhibiting effect against S. mutans and induced a 64% loss of its viability (p<0.05). In addition, swollen and disrupted S. mutans were observed after incubation with B. adolescentis SPM1005. However, the culture supernatant of this strain did not show such inhibitory activity.

Conclusion: B. adolescentis SPM1005 cells decreased the growth of S. mutans, which is a risk factor for dental caries. Therefore, we suggest that this Bifidobacterium strain may be a useful probiotic microorganism for prevention of dental caries that does not have adverse effects.