Medicinal herbs, especially Hibiscus sabdariffa, inhibit oral pathogenic bacteria.

OBJECTIVES: Medicinal herbs are plants with potential medicinal and health benefits. In recent years, they are being increasingly used as a treatment alternative owing to their effectiveness against various diseases. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of 15 medicinal herbs on causative bacteria for dental caries and periodontal disease. METHODS: This study evaluated the effects of the extracts of 15 medicinal herbs on growth and biofilm formation in five oral pathogenic bacterial strains. The herbs were processed into extracts, and bacterial strains were cultured. Then, bacterial growth and biofilm formation were assessed using various methods. Finally, the extract of the herb Hibiscus sabdariffa (hibiscus) was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: Incubation of bacteria with the herbal extracts showed that hibiscus exerted a significant inhibitory effect on all the oral pathogenic bacterial strains evaluated in this study. In addition, the pigment delphinidin-3-sambubioside, which is found in hibiscus extract, was identified as a particularly important inhibitory component. CONCLUSIONS: These results lay the ground work for the potential development of novel therapeutic or preventive agents against dental caries and periodontal disease, two major oral diseases.

Functional involvement of Xenopus homologue of ADF/cofilin phosphatase, slingshot (XSSH), in the gastrulation movement.

ADF/cofilin is a phosphorylation-regulated protein essential for actin filament dynamics in cells. Here, we cloned two cDNAs encoding Xenopus ADF/cofilin (XAC)-specific phosphatase, slingshot (XSSH), one of which contains an extra 15 nucleotides in a coding sequence of the other, possibly generated by alternative splicing. Whole mount in situ hybridization showed XSSH transcripts in the blastopore lip and sensorial ectoderm at stage 11, and subsequently localized to developing brain, branchial arches, developing retina, otic vesicle, cement gland, and spinal chord in neurula to tailbud embryos. Immunostaining of animal-vegetal sections of gastrula embryos demonstrated that both XAC and XSSH proteins are predominant in ectodermal and involuting mesodermal cells. Microinjection of either a wild type (thus induces overexpression) or a phosphatase-defective mutant (functions as dominantly negative form) resulted in defects in gastrulation, and often generated the spina bifida phenotype with reduced head structures. Interestingly, the ratio of phosphorylated XAC to dephosphorylated XAC markedly increased from the early gastrula stage (stage 10.5), although the amount of XSSH protein markedly increased from this stage. These results suggest that gastrulation movement requires ADF/cofilin activity through dynamic regulation of its phosphorylation state.