Ozone therapy as an adjuvant for endondontic protocols: microbiological - ex vivo study and citotoxicity analyses.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the antimicrobial efficacy of ozone therapy in teeth contaminated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, and Staphylococcus aureus using a mono-species biofilm model. Parallel to this, the study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of ozone for human gingival fibroblasts. Material and Methods: One hundred and eighty single-root teeth were contaminated with a mono-species biofilm of Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. Groups were formed: Group I - control; Group II - standard protocol; Group III - standard protocol + ozone gas at 40 µg/mL; and Group IV - standard protocol + aqueous ozone at 8 µg/mL. In parallel, human gingival fibroblasts were submitted to the MTT test. Cells were plated, then ozone was applied as follows: Group I (control) - broth medium; Group II - aqueous ozone at 2 µg/mL; Group III - aqueous ozone at 5 µg/mL; and Group IV - aqueous ozone at 8 µg/mL. Data were submitted to the Kruskal Wallis test and Bonferroni post hoc analyses to assess microbiology and cytotoxicity, respectively (p<0.05%). RESULTS: The results revealed antimicrobial efficacy by Group IV with no CFU count. The cytotoxicity assay showed Groups III and IV to be the most aggressive, providing a decrease in cell viability at hour 0 from 100% to 77.3% and 68.6%, respectively. Such a decrease in cell viability was reverted, and after 72 hours Groups III and IV provided the greatest increase in cell viability, being statistically different from Groups I and II. CONCLUSION: According to the applied methodology and the limitations of this study, it was possible to conclude that ozone therapy improved the decontamination of the root canal ex vivo. Ozone was toxic to the cells on first contact, but cell viability was recovered. Thus, these findings suggest that ozone might be useful to improve root canal results.

Ozone therapy as an adjuvant for endondontic protocols: microbiological – ex vivo study and citotoxicity analyses

ABSTRACT Objectives This study evaluated the antimicrobial efficacy of ozone therapy in teeth contaminated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, and Staphylococcus aureus using a mono-species biofilm model. Parallel to this, the study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of ozone for human gingival fibroblasts. Material and Methods: One hundred and eighty single-root teeth were contaminated with a mono-species biofilm of Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. Groups were formed: Group I – control; Group II – standard protocol; Group III – standard protocol + ozone gas at 40 µg/mL; and Group IV – standard protocol + aqueous ozone at 8 µg/mL. In parallel, human gingival fibroblasts were submitted to the MTT test. Cells were plated, then ozone was applied as follows: Group I (control) – broth medium; Group II – aqueous ozone at 2 µg/mL; Group III – aqueous ozone at 5 µg/mL; and Group IV – aqueous ozone at 8 µg/mL. Data were submitted to the Kruskal Wallis test and Bonferroni post hoc analyses to assess microbiology and cytotoxicity, respectively (p<0.05%). Results The results revealed antimicrobial efficacy by Group IV with no CFU count. The cytotoxicity assay showed Groups III and IV to be the most aggressive, providing a decrease in cell viability at hour 0 from 100% to 77.3% and 68.6%, respectively. Such a decrease in cell viability was reverted, and after 72 hours Groups III and IV provided the greatest increase in cell viability, being statistically different from Groups I and II. Conclusion According to the applied methodology and the limitations of this study, it was possible to conclude that ozone therapy improved the decontamination of the root canal ex vivo. Ozone was toxic to the cells on first contact, but cell viability was recovered. Thus, these findings suggest that ozone might be useful to improve root canal results.

New PHA products using unrelated carbon sources

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are natural polyesters stored by a wide range of bacteria as carbon source reserve. Due to its chemical characteristics and biodegradability PHA can be used in chemical, medical and pharmaceutical industry for many human purposes. Over the past years, few Burkholderia species have become known for production of PHA. Aside from that, these bacteria seem to be interesting for discovering new PHA compositions which is important to different industrial applications. In this paper, we introduce two new strains which belong either to Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) or genomovar-type, Burkholderia cepacia SA3J and Burkholderia contaminans I29B, both PHA producers from unrelated carbon sources. The classification was based on 16S rDNA and recA partial sequence genes and cell wall fatty acids composition. These two strains were capable to produce different types of PHA monomers or precursors. Unrelated carbon sources were used for growth and PHA accumulation. The amount of carbon source evaluated, or mixtures of them, was increased with every new experiment until it reaches eighteen carbon sources. As first bioprospection experiments staining methods were used with colony fluorescent dye Nile Red and the cell fluorescent dye Nile Blue A. Gas chromatography analysis coupled to mass spectrometry was used to evaluate the PHA composition on each strain cultivated on different carbon sources. The synthesized polymers were composed by short chain length-PHA (scl-PHA), especially polyhydroxybutyrate, and medium chain length-PHA (mcl-PHA) depending on the carbon source used.