2019 Volume 17 Issue 3-4 Pages 114-119
Mechanical cleaning is considered most effective in preventing oral mucosal diseases such as denture stomatitis and aspiration pneumonia; however, host saliva also have effective antimicrobial substances. Beta-defensin and histatin reportedly exert antimicrobial effects against Candida albicans; however, their optimal concentration in human saliva and optimum duration of activity are unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of concentration and time on the antimicrobial activity of human saliva against C. albicans. Saliva was collected from 20 volunteers(10 men, 10 women; 25.7±1.95 years) twice daily for 1 week, and each antimicrobial substances was quantified. The viable count,ATP activity, and changes in the drug susceptibility test for C. albicans were assessed with respect to different concentrations and durations to analyse antimicrobial activity. Viable count tended to increase with an increase in beta-defensin 3 levels, but tended to decrease with an increase in histatin 5 levels. Yeast density and ATP activity level were significantly positively correlated with each antimicrobial substance(beta-defensin 3; 0.991, p＜.000,histatin 5; 0.975, p＜.000). Beta-defensin 3 and histatin 5 did not yield zones of inhibition with time; however, antifungal drugs reduced the viable count and ATP activity level regardless of time. The present results indicate that histatin 5 reduces the population of C. albicans and ATP activity levels and may be a potential marker for risk assessment of oral mucosal diseases and aspiration pneumonia.
