BACKGROUND Natural products constitute a promising class of therapeutics for the treatment of gingivitis and periodontitis as well as the maintenance of oral health. However, the limited understanding behind their potential mechanisms and modes of action have hampered their incorporation into popular western therapeutics. This in vitro study characterizes an Ayurvedic herbal extract mixture, which has been clinically shown to promote gingival health and homeostasis. METHODS Telomerase immortalized gingival keratinocytes (TIGK) were infected with either Fusobacterium nucleatum cell wall, live F. nucleatum, IL-1β or TNF-α for 4 hours with and without the herbal extract. The immunomodulatory effects of the extract on host IL-8 production was measured by ELISA. RESULTS It was found that the Ayurvedic herbal extract mixture inhibited gingival epithelial cell IL-8 expression in response to both bacterial and host cytokine agonists. The herbal extract inhibited IL-8 stimulated by F. nucleatum cell wall, live F. nucleatum, IL-1β, and TNF-α in a dose-dependent manner that was not a result of host cell death. Furthermore, the extract showed significantly different ID50 doses demonstrating the differential ability to modulate both stimulated and basal IL-8 levels. CONCLUSIONS In vitro investigation of this herbal extract mixture revealed that it has the ability to modulate gingival epithelial cell IL-8 expression in response to stimulation by bacterial components and host pro-inflammatory signals. This data demonstrates that the reduction in the gingival epithelial cell IL-8 response may in part be responsible for the previously reported ability of the Ayurvedic herbal extract mixture to reduce gingivitis in two separate human clinical studies.

中文翻译：

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阿育吠陀草药提取物抑制宿主和细菌激动剂对口腔上皮细胞IL-8的反应。

背景技术天然产物构成用于治疗牙龈炎和牙周炎以及维持口腔健康的有前景的疗法。然而，对它们潜在的作用机理和作用方式的了解有限，阻碍了它们纳入流行的西方疗法中。这项体外研究以印度草药草药提取物混合物为特征，该混合物已在临床上证明可促进牙龈健康和体内平衡。方法在有或没有草药提取物的情况下，将端粒酶永生化的牙龈角质形成细胞（TIGK）分别感染核梭状芽胞杆菌细胞壁，活核镰刀菌，IL-1β或TNF-α4小时。通过ELISA测量提取物对宿主IL-8产生的免疫调节作用。结果发现阿育吠陀草药提取物混合物对细菌和宿主细胞因子激动剂均具有抑制牙龈上皮细胞IL-8表达的作用。该草药提取物以剂量依赖的方式抑制了由核仁壁细胞壁，活核仁，IL-1β和TNF-α刺激的IL-8，这不是宿主细胞死亡的结果。此外，提取物显示出明显不同的ID50剂量，证明了调节刺激的和基础的IL-8水平的不同能力。结论对该草药提取物混合物的体外研究表明，它具有调节牙龈上皮细胞IL-8表达的能力，以响应细菌成分和宿主促炎信号的刺激。