Anti-Inflammatory Features of Probiotics in Oral Care Products

Objectives: An increasing number of investigations give reason for the use of probiotic bacteria against inflammatory situations such as gingivitis or periodontitis. The aim of this study was to systematically use a screening-platform to identify anti-inflammatory probiotic bacteria for the application in oral care products. The present study focused on an early gingivitis, ex-vivo inflammation model based on the pro-inflammatory immune-response of human monocytes and gingival fibroblasts in the presence of probiotics. The model was also used to investigate dose-dependency and batch-to-batch reproducibility. Two effective probiotics were formulated in toothpastes and the effects of the formulation were investigated in the monocyte model.
Methods: Screening concentrated on human primary monocytes harvested from healthy blood-donors executed with at least three biological replicates. A pro-inflammatory response of immune-cells was stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (Salmonella enterica, 10 ng/ml) for human monocytes and with interleukin (IL)-1beta (10U/ml) for gingival fibroblasts, both for 24 hours. Sampling included batch-to-batch variation of probiotics as well as dose-tuning of lead strains monitoring IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, prostaglandin E₂ and 8-isoprostane in the supernatants by ELISA/EIA techniques.
Results: We identified 16 out of 75 strains with anti-inflammatory potential in the early gingivitis model. Five of those acted independent of their viability and three showed concomitant anti-inflammatory potential in gingival fibroblasts. Two lead candidates, SYBIO-015 and SYBIO-041, affected consistently the levels of indicated pro-inflammatory molecules in a dose-dependent manner and independent of batch-to-batch variation.
Conclusions: We identified 16 out of 75 strains with anti-inflammatory potential in the early gingivitis model. Five of those acted independent of their viability and three showed concomitant anti-inflammatory potential in gingival fibroblasts. Two lead candidates, SYBIO-015 and SYBIO-041, affected consistently the levels of indicated pro-inflammatory molecules in a dose-dependent manner and independent of batch-to-batch variation.