Sugars to fool plaque makers.

Sugars to fool plaque makers

Glucans are chain-like molecules whose links are units of the simple sugar glucose. Made by bacterial enzymes in the mouth, large glucans, containing 100 to 150 glucose units, become part of the structural matrix of decay-causing dental plaque. But K. Grant Taylor and colleagues at the University of Louisville, Ky., are devising an arsenal of "glucan mimics" to prevent that plaque.

Glucans help glue plaque bacteria and food particles to teeth. Taylor's water-soluble mimics do the opposite: The bacteria they bind become flushable from the mouth by saliva or water. Using mouth rinses or toothpastes that incorporate such mimics, people may one day be able to routinely wash away plaque makers before they can damage teeth, Taylor says.

By binding to glucan receptors on plaque-bacteria cell surfaces, these short-chain mimics can also tie up enzymes that ordinarily help make more glucans. Taylor reports preliminary findings showing that even a two-glucose mimic can block glucan production. But his future work will focus on even longer ones, because bacterial studies suggest eight-glucose mimics will provide the most effective binding.