Investigations on the receptor of oral bacteria which initiate dental plaque formation by several lectins.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	60570889
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Functional basic dentistry
Research Institution	The National Institute of Health
Principal Investigator	AKADA Hiromasa Department of Dental Research, その他, 研究員 (40072920)
Project Period (FY)	1985 – 1986
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1986)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000) Fiscal Year 1986: ¥300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 1985: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
Keywords	Lectin / Dental Plaque Formation / Oral Bacteria / リセプター
Research Abstract	Agglutination of various oral bacteria by some lectins having different carbohydrate binding specificity were studied. The lectin concanavalin A (Con A) agglutinated the cells of Streptococcus mutans (serotype f), S. salivarius, S. sanguis (serotype <I> and <III> ), S. fecalis, S. mitis, Group A streptococcus, Lactobacillus plantarum and Actinomyces viscosus. S. mutans strains of serotype a, d and g were agglutinated by RCAI lectin and those of d and g were also agglutinated by RCAII. Recent investigations have shown that the type a, d and g antigens of S. mutans are composed of galactose and glucose, and D-galactose is an antigenic determinant. These findings were coincided with the reactive specificity of the lectins, RCAI and RCAII. Among oral gram negative bacilli, only the cells of Eikenella corrodens two strains were agglutinated by Con A. The quantity of [acetyl- <^3H> ] Con A bound to agglutinated cells were proportional to the applied Con A concentrations. Non-agglutinated cells did not bind Con A. Todd Hewitt broth (contains very small amount of sucrose) grown cells bound more Con A than Brain Heart Infusion broth cells. These results indicate that the small amount of glucan synthesized on the cell surfaces affected the binding of Con A.