Butyrate and propionate: important components of toxic dental plaque extracts

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Abstract
Extracts of in vitro-cultured human dental plaque (bacterial) contain factors toxic to mammalian cells. Previous studies demonstrated that those toxic factors most readily released from cultured plaque had very low MW and were heat stable. Studies reported here demonstrate that metabolic end products including short-chain fatty acids were present in fractions containing the low MW, heat-stable factors. The salts of 2 of these acids, butyrate and propionate, inhibited proliferation of mouse L929 cells and human gingival fibroblasts. When tested at concentrations present in plaque extracts, the inhibitory effects of butyrate and propionate accounted for essentially all the inhibitory potential of the extracts. These findings, taken together with those of other groups, suggest that butyrate and propionate, end products of dental plaque metabolism, may have an etiological role in periodontal disease.

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