근관감염 원인균에 대한 berberine의 항균 효과

Abstract

It has been known that berberine have strong antimicrobial effect. Little is known regarding the antimicrobial activity of berberine against endodontic pathogenic bacteria as well as their cytotoxicity in human oral tissue cells, which are the major subjects of this study. The antibacterial properties of berberine were tested against 5 strains of Enterococcus faecalis and type strains of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Prevotella nigrescens, Prevotella intermedia, and Tannerella forsythia, which are involved in endodontic infections. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by measuring the minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration(MBC). The cell viability of nomral human gingival fibroblast(NHGF) cells, after exposure to berberine was measured using a methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT) assay. The data showed that berberine had a remarkable antimicrobial effect on A. actinomycetemcomitans with an MIC and MBC of 12.5 μg/ml and 25 μg/ml, respectively. In the cytotoxicity studies, the cell viability was maintained at 31.3 μg/ml by 66.1%. Overall, these findings suggest that berberine has a strong antimicrobial activity against the tested bacteria. Nevertheless, lower concentrations in combination with other reagents will be needed before these in vitro results can be translated to clinical use.

Key words: Antimicrobial effect, berberine, endodontic infection.