Atividade Antibacteriana de Frutas do Nordeste Brasileiro sobre Bactéria Cariogênica

dental caries is a great public health problem in many countries. Some regions in Brazil are more affected as the North and Northeast. The antibacterial activity against Streptococcus mutans represent interesting therapeutic target for the study and control of the dental caries. S. mutans is known as the bacteria causing in dental plaque and dental caries formation. Objectives: the aim of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity, against S. mutans, of the native fruits pulp from Brazilian Northeast area: Spondias mombin L. (cajazeira), Spondias purpurea L (sirigueleira). and Spondias tuberosa (umbuzeiro). Methodology: were evaluated the antimicrobial activity and the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the  hexanic, chloroformic, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions of the Spondias mombin L., Spondias purpurea L. and Spondias tuberosa extracts. The chloroform, hexane, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions of whole fruit pulps of these species were obtained through the liquid-liquid partition process. A diffusion test was performed on agar characterizing the extracts as to their antimicrobial potential against S. mutans, being chosen the one with the highest activity for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Results: the hexane, ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions of caja presented significant antimicrobial activity against S. mutans in the disk-diffusion assays being chosen for the MIC test. The test revealed inhibitory activity of 0.01 mg/mL, 0.78 mg/mL and 0.02 mg/mL for the hexane, chloroform, and ethyl acetate fractions respectively. Conclusion: it was concluded that the hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions of caja presented an interesting antimicrobial effect, mainly the more non-polar fractions, and deserve more detailed studies on their biological activity.