A biological active artificial saliva formulation containing flower mucilage from Ceylon Spinach (Basella alba Linn.).

Ceylon Spinach (Basella albe) is an edible perennial vine found in tropical Asia and Africa, known as vegetables containing mucilage. Its mucilage from flowers was extracted by microwaving and precipitated with 95% ethanol. Five artificial saliva formulations composing of mucilage from Ceylon Spinach, calcium chloride (CaCl2), potassium chloride (KCl) and sodium fluoride (NF) were developed. The best formulation No.5 containing 0.61% of the mucilage with the non-Newtonian pseudoplastic flow (8.9 ± 0.2 cP) and the wetting time (12.50 ± 2.24 min) similar to the normal human saliva was selected. This artificial saliva formulation exhibited biological activities including an antioxidative activity by DPPH free radical scavenging with the SC50 of 14.26 ± 2.00 mg/ml (0.05 folds of ascorbic acid), and the adhesion inhibition of S. mutans on hydroxyapatite beads at 17.01 ± 7.75%, while the natural human saliva exhibited an increase bacterial adhesion of 33.10 ± 9.70%. The safety of this formulation which gave no cytotoxicity on normal human gingival fibroblasts at 99.20 ± 21.09% cell viability was also demonstrated. The results from this study have indicated high biological activity and safety of the developed formulation containing mucilage from Ceylon Spinach which is potential to be used as artificial saliva for xerostomia patients.

Physicochemical properties and biological activities of Thai plant mucilages for artificial saliva preparation.

CONTEXT: Plant mucilages can be found in various parts of several Thai plants, which can be used as thickening, moisturizing, and lubricating agents in artificial saliva formulations. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical properties, biological activity, and cytotoxicity of Thai plant mucilages. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The mucilages from Thai plants were extracted by various processes (temperature and pH variation, microwave oven, steam, and Tris-HCl buffer extraction). The viscosity and the rheology were evaluated using viscometer. Antioxidative activities including DPPH radical scavenging and metal chelating activities were investigated. The mucilages were determined for cytotoxicity on normal human gingival fibroblasts and anti-adherent activity of Streptococcus mutans. RESULTS: Mucilages from Ocimum citriodorum Vis. (Lamiaceae), Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Moraceae), Abelmoschus esculentus (Linn.) Moench. (Malvaceae), and Basella alba Linn. (Basellaceae) exhibited pseudoplastic non-Newtonian rheology. The highest DPPH radical-scavenging and metal-chelating activities were observed in the mucilages from B. alba (microwave, 3 min) and A. esculentus (microwave, 1 min) with the SC50 and MC50 values (50% of scavenging activity and 50% of metal chelating activity, respectively) of 0.71 ± 0.32 and 1.11 ± 0.52 mg/ml, respectively. Most mucilages exhibited no cytotoxicity to normal human gingival fibroblasts. The mucilage from A. esculentus (microwave, 5 min) gave the shortest wetting time of 2.75 ± 0.51 min. The highest S. mutans adhesion inhibition was observed in A. esculentus (pH 11) of 5.39 ± 9.70%. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study has indicated the suitable physicochemical and biological properties and the potential application of mucilages from Thai plants for artificial saliva preparation.