Anthelmintic drug will get rid of periodontitis

The traditional method of treating periodontitis involves the physical removal of plaque from the roots of the teeth. However, after such an unpleasant and expensive procedure, the bacterial biofilm usually reappears.

Australian researchers have demonstrated on an animal model of periodontitis that the anthelmintic drug oxantel suppresses the formation of bacterial biofilm by influencing the enzyme necessary for its formation. They also demonstrated that this effect is dose-dependent.

The authors began their research by studying the symbiosis of periodontal pathogens in animal models of periodontitis using genomics, proteomics and metabolomics methods. They soon found that the rate of formation of periodontal biofilm depends on the availability of iron and heme (an iron-containing molecule that is part of hemoglobin). Moreover, a decrease in the concentration of iron-containing compounds reduced the activity of the bacterial enzyme fumarate reductase.

The ability of oxantel to inhibit the activity of fumarate reductase is well known, so the researchers decided to study the effect of this drug on the vital activity of one of the main components of the periodontal biofilm – Porphyromonas gingivalis bacteria. Experiments have shown that oxantel significantly changes the activity of Porphyromonas gingivalis genes involved in the metabolism of iron-containing compounds, which, in turn, leads to a decrease in the activity of fumarate reductase.

Further experiments demonstrated that ocasantel successfully prevents the growth of polymicrobial biofilms consisting of a typical combination of periodontal pathogenic bacteria: Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia and Treponema denticola, despite the fact that individually the latter pathogen does not react to the drug in any way.

According to the authors, fumarate reductase is not synthesized by the human body, therefore it is an ideal target for the treatment of periodontitis.

Article by Stuart Dashper et al. Oxantel disrupts polymicrobial biofilm development of periodontal pathogens published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of DrBicuspid: Drug may guard against periodontitis.

14.11.2013