Anti-dental caries effect in rats and man of a bacteriocin purified from the oral bacterium Streptococcus mutans C3603.

Specific pathogen-free rats infected with Streptococcus mutans PS-14 (serotype c) and fed a cariogenic diet containing 380 parts/10(6) of bacteriocin, purified from Strep. mutans C3603, developed significantly fewer carious lesions than controls infected with Strep. mutans and fed the same diet without bacteriocin. The caries-inhibitory effect was 58.7 per cent. Oral appliances fixed with bovine enamel slabs were worn by volunteers to test bacteriocin C3603. The enamel slabs were treated with 500 parts/10(6) bacteriocin in 3 per cent sucrose solution for 10 min, 4 times daily, or with 3 per cent sucrose solution, 3 times daily, for 10 min and just before bedtime with 500 parts/10(6) bacteriocin once for 1 min. The bacteriocin exerted a strong inhibition of cariogenicity of sucrose.