Effects of chlorhexidine on proteolytic and glycosidic enzyme activities of dental plaque bacteria

Chlorhexidine was tested for its ability to inhibit a wide range of glycosidic and proteolytic enzyme activities produced by Treponema denticola, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Bacteroides intermedius, Actinobacillus actinomycemcomitans, Capnocytophaga sputigena, Capnocytophaga gingivalis, Capnocytophaga orchracea, Capnocytophaga sp., Actinomyces viscosus, Streptococcus mitior, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococus sobrinus, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus anginosus, Streptococcus oralis and Streptococcus sanguis. The enzymes produced by Capnocytophaga spp. were the most resistant to inhibition by chlorhexidine while the hydrolysis of proteolytic substrates by all the other species was markedly susceptible to inhibition with < 0.125 mm chlorhexidine inhibiting enzyme activities by ≥ 50%. Glycosidase activities, of all species, were generally more resistant to inhibition, especially neuraminidase activity. Chlorhexidine at < 0.032 mm inhibited the degradation of bovine serum albumin by suspensions of dental plaque bacteria. These observations support an hypothesis that chlorhexidine exerts a bacteristatic effect in vivo, in part, by reducing the ability of dental plaque bacteria to degrade host‐derived proteins and glycoproteins which normally provide essential nutrients for growth.