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Efficacy of taurolidine against periodontopathic species—an in vitro study

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Abstract

The antimicrobial effect of taurolidine was tested against periodontopathic species in comparison to chlorhexidine digluconate in the presence or absence of serum. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC), microbiocidal concentrations (MBC), as well as killing were determined against 32 different microbial strains including 3 Porphyromonas gingivalis, 3 Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, and 15 potentially superinfecting species with and without 25% v/v human serum. The MIC50 of taurolidine against the tested microbial strains was 0.025% and the MIC90 0.05%. The respective values for the MBCs were 0.05% and 0.1%. Addition of 25% serum (heat-inactivated) did not change the MIC and MBC values of taurolidine. In contrast, MICs and MBCs of chlorhexidine (CHX) increased by two steps after addition of serum. Taurolidine killed microorganisms in a concentration and time-dependent manner, the killing rate of 1.6% taurolidine was 99.08% ± 2.27% in mean after 2 h. Again, killing activity of taurolidine was not affected if serum was added, whereas addition of inactivated serum clearly reduced the killing rate of all selected bacterial strains by CHX. Therefore, taurolidine possesses antimicrobial properties which are not reduced in the presence of serum as a main component in gingival crevicular fluid and wound fluid. Taurolidine may have potential as an antimicrobial agent in non-surgical and surgical periodontal treatment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Regula Hirschi and Marianne Weibel for their excellent assistance in performing the in vitro assays. We are indebted to Richard Miron (University of Bern) for the language corrections. This work was funded by Geistlich Pharma AG, Wolhusen, Switzerland.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Periodontology, Dental School, University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse 7, CH-3010, Bern, Switzerland

    Sigrun Eick, Sabrina Radakovic & Anton Sculean

  2. Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital of Jena, Jena, Germany

    Wolfgang Pfister

  3. Center for Electron Microscopy, University Hospital of Jena, Jena, Germany

    Sandor Nietzsche

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  1. Sigrun Eick
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  2. Sabrina Radakovic
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Correspondence to Sigrun Eick.

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Eick, S., Radakovic, S., Pfister, W. et al. Efficacy of taurolidine against periodontopathic species—an in vitro study. Clin Oral Invest 16, 735–744 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-011-0567-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-011-0567-2

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