Abstract:
A composition of algal extracts containing phycobiliprotein is provided. This composition not only effectively inhibit the growth of oral pathogens including  Porphyromonathes gingivalis  and  Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans , but also reduces the inflammation caused by those pathogens. Therefore, the phenomenon of alveolar bone loss in periodontal patients is mitigation, achieving the effect of prevention and treatment of periodontal disease.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a new use of the phycocyanin extracts, it can effectively inhibit the growth of the oral pathogens, improve the alveolar bone loss situation and reduce the inflammation caused by those pathogens. More particularly, the present invention of the phycocyanin extracts can treat and/or prevent of periodontal disease. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Periodontal disease is a kind of the chronic disease, occurs at a high frequency throughout the world. According to the statistics of Taiwan Academy of Periodontology, over 90 percents of adults have gum disease in Taiwan. These patients might have ugly teeth, bad breath and suffer from other oral diseases. Moreover, it seriously affects the interpersonal relationships with others during social activities. The main factor of periodontal disease is the growth of the oral pathogens, others include smoking, genetic, stress, diet, age, diabetes, osteoporosis, HIV infection, radiation exposure and administration of drugs that suppress the immune ability and so on. These factors are likely to increase the risk of suffering from periodontal disease and also exacerbate the damages done by those pathogens. 
         [0003]    In between gums and teeth is a groove and the groove is called the gingival sulcus. Result of poor oral hygiene, the oral pathogens would grow in the gingival sulcus and gradually to form a biofilm. These main oral pathogens are  Porphyromonas gingivalis  and  Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans . These oral pathogens adhere and aggregate to the biofilm to form a plaque. 
         [0004]    The oral pathogens within the plaque will invade the surrounding gum tissue, and gradually form a periodontal pocket. The invaded oral pathogens itself and its secreted toxins will induce the pro-inflammatory factors, including cyclooxygenase (COX) products and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) metabolites, etc. These factors will directly or indirectly cause damage to the surrounding gum tissue. 
         [0005]    In clinical practice, it is very important to observe the height of periodontal alveolar bone in patients. Because the height of the alveolar bone will directly affect the holding of the teeth. The density of bone within our body is the result of constant interaction between deposition and resorption. When the rate of the deposition is faster than the rate of resorption, the internal bone is increased. If the rate of the resorption is faster than the rate of deposition, the internal bone is decreased. Periodontal alveolar bone works the same mechanism. The deposition and the resorption of bone depends on the osteoblasts and the osteoclast. When the pathogens enter the alveolar bone, the pathogens will destroy the capillary blood vessels, block the supply of the nutrients and reduce the osteoblast activity. On the other hand, the inflammatory factors (e.g., TNF-α, IL-1) and immune cells (e.g. T cells) induced by the pathogens, increase the osteoclasts activity tremendously. These situations cause alveolar bone atrophy and bone loss, further leads to exposure of teeth root and loss of teeth 
         [0006]    In summary, the pathogens in the plaque is the main reason of the periodontal disease. Thus reducing the accumulation and proliferation of these pathogens are the primary goal of prevention and treatment of periodontal disease. In clinical, the main cure method of the periodontal disease is through surgical treatment to clear of the plaque. Currently, there is no efficienct drug therapy for the periodontal disease. Therefore the drug therapy is a very important field for further research and development. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The present invention provides a composition for treating the periodontal disease comprising an effective concentration of a phycobiliprotein. 
         [0008]    The present invention provides a composition for preventing the periodontal disease comprising an effective concentration of a phycobiliprotein. 
         [0009]    In some embodiments, the effective concentration is great than 50 μg/ml, and the best concentration is between 50 μg/ml˜600 μg/ml. 
         [0010]    In some embodiments, the treatment and/or prevention of periodontal disease is through inhibit the growth of the oral pathogens, the growth of oral pathogens include  Porphyromonas gingivalis  and  Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans.    
         [0011]    In some embodiments, the treatment and/or prevention of periodontal disease is to effectively reduce alveolar bone loss in patients. 
         [0012]    In some embodiments, the treatment and/or prevent of periodontal disease is to effectively reduce the inflammation caused by those pathogens in patients. 
         [0013]    In some embodiments, the phycocyanin is select from the group consist of phycocyanin, phycoerythrin and allophycocyanin. 
         [0014]    In some embodiments, the phycocyanin is C-phycocyanin. 
         [0015]    In some embodiments, the composition can be made into a paste, an injection or a patch. 
         [0016]    In some embodiments, the composition can add to oral hygienic products, such as toothpaste, powder, mouthwash or dental floss. 
         [0017]    In some embodiments, the composition can be applied in the orthodontic tools, such as braces or dentures 
         [0018]    In some embodiments, the composition can be applied in the braces or dentures, such as adhesive or denture cleaning solution. 
         [0019]    In some embodiments, the composition can be applied in the dental materials, such as silver amalgam and synthetic resins. 
         [0020]    In some embodiments, the composition can be mixed in chewing gum, fresh mint tablets or other mouth freshener. 
         [0021]    In some embodiments, the composition further combine with other pharmaceutically acceptable excipient. 
         [0022]    In some embodiments, the composition further can be a food additive. 
         [0023]    The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the description below. Other features or advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of an example and also from the appended claims. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0024]      FIG. 1(A)  illustrates effect of CPC antimicrobial activity for Porphyromonas gingivalis in vitro, and  FIG. 1(B)  illustrates effect of CPC antimicrobial activity for Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans in vitro. 
           [0025]      FIG. 2(A)  illustrates the chart of the rat dental.  FIG. 2(B)  illustrates the operate photograph of the animal induced periodontal experiments. 
           [0026]      FIG. 3  illustrates the flow chart of animal experiments. 
           [0027]      FIG. 4(A)  illustrates the MRI photograph of the phenomenon of the alveolar bone loss in animal experiment.  FIG. 4(B)  illustrates the statistics result of the alveolar bone loss in animal experiment.  FIG. 4(C)  illustrates the photograph of the tissue staining. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiment 1 
     The Antimicrobial Test 
       [0028]    1. Culture of the Pathogens 
         [0029]    According to the experiment process of the reference paper Jeong et al., 2000 and Zhou et al., 2006, the main pathogens of the periodontal disease  Porphyromonas gingivalis  and  Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans  are cultured. 
         [0030]    2. The Antimicrobial Experiment 
         [0031]    To find out the dosage which 50% of bacteria is inhibited, experiment studies the effects of different concentrations of the phycocyanin (25, 50,150, 300, and 600 μg/ml) on  Porphyromonas gingivalis  ( FIG. 1A )and  Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans  ( FIG. 1B ). 
         [0032]    The inhibition experiment of the  Porphyromonas gingivalis  ( FIG. 1A ) indicates that the 50% inhibit concentration of the phycocyanin extracts is about 150 μg/ml. The inhibit experiment of the  Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans  results ( FIG. 1B ) indicate that 50% inhibit concentration of the phycobiliproteins extracts is about 100 μg/ml. But phycocyanin extracts present no inhibitory effect to the other pathogens of the  E. coli, S. aureus, Streptococcus mutans  and  T. rubrum . These results show the invention containing extracts of phycocyaninhas the outstanding effect of inhibiting the growth of periodontal pathogens. 
       Embodiment 2 
     The Experiment of the Alveolar Bone Loss 
       [0033]    1. Experiment Animal 
         [0034]    The present invention uses Sprague Dawley (SD) male rats as experiment animals; each rat weighs about 280-310 g and was purchased from national animal center in the National Defense Medical Center. The breed environment of the SD rat is around the 23-25° C. and the light setting is on between 8:00-20:00 for 12 hours and set off for the remaining 12 hours. The animal room is supplied with ample feed and water. In addition, the room keeps under proper humidity, and a separate filtered air is supplied. 
         [0035]    2. The Set Up of Periodontal Disease Animal Model 
         [0036]    According to the published paper in 2008 by Cai et al., they setup a Ligature-induced periodontal disease model. (Hereinafter refer to as “ligation”). The first process is to give the rats anesthetic through intraperitoneal injection. Then place the ligature on molars nearby both sides of the jaw around the tooth neck on the primary molar and secondary molar ( FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B ). The knot is placed at the mesial surface. 
         [0037]    3. Experiment Design 
         [0038]    The rats were randomly divided into five groups, include (1) Control group (2) ligation group (3) treatment group 1 (ligation+the phycocyanin extracts 50 mg/kg) (4) treatment group 2 (ligation+the phycocyanin extracts 100 mg/kg) (5) treatment group 3 (ligation+the phycocyanin extracts 200 mg/kg). From the beginning of the experiment D0, normal saline or different concentrations of the present invention contains phycocyaninextraction is given till Day 10. At D3, rat is induced periodontal disease by ligature. Rat are sacrificed at Day 11, and changes of the height of the alveolar bone are observed ( FIG. 3 ) 
         [0039]    4. The Measurement of the Height of the Alveolar Bone 
         [0040]    After removal of the soft tissues of the rat lower jaw, verify the position of the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ), and measure the distance between the CEJ to the alveolar bone crest (ABC). ( FIG. 4A ) The experiment result of the Ligation group shows that whether the lingual side or the buccal side the alveolar bone crest both have a serious bone matrix absorption. However, while the rat feed the present invention phycocyanin extraction (C-PC) for 100 mg/kg (treatment group 2) and 200 mg/kg (treatment group 3), the distance between the CEJ to the alveolar bone crest (ABC) is shorter than the Ligation group. ( FIG. 4B ) There is no difference between the two doses of each other. 
         [0041]    Furthermore, observe the experiment rat&#39;s alveolar bone loss phenomenon through tissue staining. The mark “d” means dentin, “g” means gingiva, “pl” means periodontal ligament and “ab” means alveolar bone. The experiment result of the Ligation group shows more serious alveolar bone loss than the treatment group. The treatment group 2 (100 mg/kg) and 3 (200 mg/kg) have significant improvement of the alveolar bone loss situation. Therefore, the present invention of the phycocyanin extracts can effectively improve the alveolar bone loss situation. 
         [0042]    Based on the above result, the present invention of the phycocyanin extracts can effectively inhibit the growth of the oral pathogens, improve the alveolar bone loss situation and reduce the inflammation caused by those pathogens. Finally, the present invention of the phycocyaninextracts can treatment and/or prevent of periodontal disease. 
         [0043]    Although the present invention has been described in terms of specific exemplary embodiments and examples, it will be appreciated that the embodiments disclosed herein are for illustrative purposes only and various modifications and alterations might be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.