Avaliação das potencialidades biotecnológicas de lectinas vegetais no diagnóstico e prevenção de cárie dentária

Abstract

Dental Caries is an infectious disease naturally multi-factorial that begins in the childhood, able to spread its intensity and prevalence according to the mouth ambient conditions of each host. The risk of the patients to develop, in some time of their lives, carious lesions can be measured through a complex analysis using health determinant factors and other specific factors of the health-disease process. Since the dental caries forward diagnostic as well as the review of the auxiliary determinant factors of the dental caries danger evaluation, the treatment becomes simpler, less invasive and costing lower. It has been quite broad-casted lately the use of lectins to diagnose and to prevent some diseases. When dealing with dental caries disease, through many years this strategy has been explored still inceptively. Looking through this perspective, the goal of this trial was to investigate the biotechnological potential of the red marine alga Hypnea musciformis (HML) applied to Dentistry. It is about an explanatory-experimental study of quantitative approach through the health questionnaire and data statistics analysis. The research makes reference to some comparative analysis of salivary tests and the cariogenic activity in twelve year-old students and it searches to evaluate the biotechnological potentialities of the lectin from the red marine alga Hypnea musciformis (HML) in the diagnose and prevention of the dental caries. The concentration area of this trial was the macromolecules/ lectin biotechnological application. In the present trial were compared obtained results through the application of the conventional clinical exams to dental caries and salivary tests of dental caries activity pointed by the CARIOGRAM® program in association with lab analysis using specific lectins. From this trial, it has been concluded that, about lectins as a biotechnological potential to prevention and diagnose of the dental caries, it has been noticed that there is recognition of resident glycoconjugate on pacifier saliva of high and low risk observed in immunofluorescence pattern. The results showed that the tested lectin has the capacity to intervene on the bacterial growth in a negative way, it is being distinguished statistically (p<0,01) in relation to control group of saline and BSA. However, inhibition studies of the microbial biofilms using the HML are being programmed to evaluate the using possibility of these protein as biotech input to be used for dental caries prevention. It could be said also that the obtained results by the use of HML in the antimicrobial activity were promising, showing that this lectin has presented antimicrobial activity even on very small amounts. As to the use of these protein in the biofilm formation and developing there was no characteristic pattern.