English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Background   Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans  produces a leukotoxin that activates a pro-inflammatory death of human monocytes/macrophages. A specific clone of this bacterium (JP2) has a 530-base pair deletion in the leukotoxin promoter gene and significantly enhanced expression of leukotoxin. This specific clone of  A. actinomycetemcomitans  is common in some African populations and has a strong association with periodontal attachment loss in adolescents in these populations. Chewing sticks of plant origin are commonly used as oral hygiene tool in Africa, but their role as a therapeutic agent in periodontal disease is poorly investigated.    Results  Ethanol extracts were made from 7 common plants used as chewing sticks in West-Africa. None of the tested extracts inhibited growth of  A. actinomycetemcomitans . However, extracts from  Psidium guajava  (Guava) completely neutralized the cell death and pro-inflammatory response of human leukocytes induced by the leukotoxin. None of the six other tested chewing stick extracts showed this effect.    Conclusions  The discovery that extracts from Guava efficiently neutralizes  A. actinomycetemcomitans  leukotoxicity might lead to novel therapeutic agents and strategies for prevention and treatment of aggressive forms of periodontitis induced by infections with the highly leukotoxic JP2 clone of this bacterium.

Interactions of extracts from selected chewing stick sources with Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans