PalinaVyhouskaya
Jagiellonian University, Poland
Title: Significance of key glycolytic enzymes in cariogenic biofilm formation
Biography
Biography: PalinaVyhouskaya
Abstract
Background
In therapeutic context, glycolytic pathway is an interesting field of research also for studying dental diseases. Metabolism of biofilm-forming Streptococcus mutans––main factor of caries progression––is based on glycolysis even in the presence of oxygen. In a such condition, an increase in the expression of genes coding key glycolytic enzymes, pyruvate kinase (PK) and phosphofructokinase (PFK), is observed. Modification of enzyme activity of PK and PFK gives an ability to inhibit bacterial growth and biofilm formation––a potential approach for caries prevention and therapy.
Material and methods
Activity of PK and PFK from double- and mixed-species biofilm was estimated spectrophotometrically. Biofilm assay was carried out according to Current Protocols in Microbiology using ATCC and clinical strains (Streptococcus mutans,Streptococcus sobrinus, Lactobacillus acidophilus,and Actinomycesviscosus). In this study, we measured the activity of PK and PFK in various pH values and formation time of double and mixed-species biofilms.
Results
The activity of PK and PFK increased after 6 and 12 hours of a double-species biofilm formation (1.43 mU/mg of protein vs. 1.52 mU/mg of protein) compared to 18 and 24 hourswhen we observed a slight decrease in the activity of the glycolytic enzymes (1.37 mU/mg of protein vs. 1.48 mU/mg of protein). In case offorming the mixed-cariogenic biofilm, the activity of glycolytic enzymes also grew after 18 and 24 hours of mixed-species biofilm formation and the differences were statistically significant (p<0.001).
Conclusions
The increase in the activity of glycolytic enzymes (PK and PFK) during the biofilm formation (due to the effect of low pH), can be explained by the need to overcome the inhibitory effect of acidification on the metabolic activity of the microorganisms in the biofilm. Bacterial cells adapt to new conditions better in mixed-species biofilm than in the mono- or double-species biofilms––the increase of theglycolysis rate associated with increased activity of glycolytic enzymes reflects this phenomenon very well.
Therefore, inhibition of glycolytic enzymes might be an essential step in the reduction of mixed-species cariogenic biofilm, what could be a useful tool in prevention of caries.