Research Paper
Oral Medicine/Therapeutics
Trehalose inhibits oral dryness by protecting the cell membrane

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijom.2010.04.047Get rights and content

Abstract

This study assessed the clinical efficacy and acceptability of trehalose solution for oral dryness caused by dental treatment. The efficacy of trehalose on oral dryness under drying conditions was assessed by measuring the surface area of the fungiform papillae and the moisture content of the tongue in seven healthy volunteers. Based on the data from this pilot study, a clinical study was performed, in which the efficacy of oral trehalose spray was evaluated on oral dryness in 10 patients undergoing root canal treatment. The effects of trehalose on cell viability were also assessed under drying conditions in vitro. Trehalose suppressed oral dryness and associated pain caused by dental treatment and protected cells from dryness-related damage. These results indicate that pretreatment application of trehalose solution on the oral mucosa is effective in preventing oral dryness caused by dental treatment.

Section snippets

Pilot study

To simulate the dryness associated with dental treatment or oral surgery, intraoral vacuum was applied for 5 min, followed by a saliva ejector for 5 min in seven healthy volunteers. The oral cavity was exposed to dryness for a total of 10 min. Trehalose (Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories, Inc., Okayama, Japan) and distilled water (Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory, Inc., Tokushima, Japan) were used to produce a 10% trehalose solution, and a control solution was prepared from distilled water. The pH

Trehalose suppresses oral dryness caused by applying vacuum

With the control solution, the surface area of the fungiform papillae shrank by more than 40% to the ratio of 0.560 after 10 min. Less shrinkage was achieved after trehalose solution spray with a surface area ratio of 0.942 (Fig. 1B). The trehalose solution caused higher moisture retention, the moisture content score was 26.2 after 5 min and 23.5 after 10 min. The moisture content score with the control solution went down quickly to 13.8 after 5 min and 14.0 after 10 min (Fig. 1C).

VAS measurements

For trehalose spray, post-stimulatory levels of dryness and pain intensity were about 30 and 20 mm, respectively. These values were significantly lower than those of the control group, compared with pre-stimulatory levels (Fig. 2B).

Atrophic changes

The mean clinical score of atrophic change was 0.85 in the trehalose treatment group, which was significantly lower than that in the control group 1.75 (p < 0.01) (Fig. 2C). In the trehalose group, the appearance of the tongue did not change after treatment (atrophic change score 0.5). In the control group, the clinical appearance markedly changed (atrophic change score 2) (Fig. 2D).

Trehalose protects cells from dryness-related damages in vitro

To verify the protective ability of trehalose against dryness, human oral cancer cell line Ca9-22 cells were treated with or without 7.5% trehalose for 15 min and cells were left to dry for 0, 40 or 50 min. The authors measured the percentage of live and dead cells using a LIVE/DEAD viability/cytotoxicity kit (Fig. 3A) and observed the morphological changes in cells after drying for 0 or 40 min (Fig. 3C). Treatment with trehalose markedly retained cell viability and suppressed cell death due to

Discussion

In the oral mucosa, the tongue is most frequently affected by oral dryness10. ‘Xerostomia’ occurs when the salivary glands do not operate properly. Many drugs and chronic diseases, such as diabetes and Sjögren's syndrome, can affect the salivary glands. Other causes of dry mouth include certain cancer treatments and damage to the nerves of the salivary glands. ‘Dryness due to oral vacuum’ occurs when saliva is removed from patients’ mouths using the aspirator, which can desiccate the oral

Competing interests

None declared.

Ethical approval

The institutional review board of the University of Tokyo (No. 1740).

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  • Protective effects of trehalose on frozen-thawed ovarian granulosa cells of cattle

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    In the present study, use of trehalose at 0.2 and 0.4 mol/L had protective effects on the plasma membrane potential of bGCs compared to the other groups. This may also suggest that trehalose stabilizes the plasma membrane during freezing by forming hydrogen bonds with the polar head groups of phospholipids, in addition to functioning as an excellent inducer of the glass state in cells (Mori et al., 2010). In ovarian granulosa cells, FSHR and CYP19 are important factors that ensure the integrity of granulosa cells and the secretion of estrogen (McNatty et al., 1975).

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