Action of a nanocarrier of cetylpyridinium chloride on oral candidiasis microcosm biofilm

• Grant number: 24/20834-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Dental Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Douglas Roberto Monteiro
• Grantee: Graciela Monteiro Menezes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of a nanocarrier of cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) based on chitosan(CS)-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) on oral candidiasis microcosm biofilm. The IONPs-CS-CPC nanocarrier will be obtained by mixing a solution of CPC with a known weight of the IONPs-CS system (700 ¿g/mL). Three removable denture wearers with denture stomatitis will participate in the study as saliva donors, and presumptive identification of Candida species present in the saliva samples will be performed. According to the broth microdilution method, the minimum inhibitory concentration of the IONPs-CS-CPC nanocarrier capable of inhibiting the growth of clinical Candida isolates in the planktonic state will be determined. The saliva pool from the three donors will be used as inoculum for the formation of microcosm biofilms, which will be formed for 72 hours on acrylic resin specimens positioned in the Amsterdam Active Attachment model. Next, the biofilms will be treated for 24 hours with different concentrations of the nanocarrier. IONPs, CS, and CPC in free form will be used as controls. Untreated biofilm will be the negative control. The antibiofilm effect will be analyzed by quantifying cultivable cells (colony-forming units) and metabolic activity (XTT reduction assay). In addition, the percentage of dead cells and the thickness of biofilms will be analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The data will be submitted to normality and homoscedasticity tests and, then, adequate statistical analysis will be applied for each result, with a significance level of 5%.