Effect of Liposomal Phosphatidylcholine Acyl Chain Length on the Bactericidal Activity of Liposome-Encapsulated Nisin on Cariogenic Streptococcus mutans

Nisin is a class I bacteriocin produced by Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis [3]. It has been found to inhibit the viability of Grampositive bacteria. Bactericidal activity of nisin against S. mutans leads to inhibition of insoluble glucan formation, and nisin does not appear to be toxic to normal human gingival fibroblasts and epithelial cells [4,5]. Furthermore, Tong et al. [6] investigated the role of nisin in oral health. However, unencapsulated nisin is degraded by enzymatic and nonenzymatic reactions [3]. The advantages of liposomes include maintaining the sustained activity of molecules that they encapsulate and releasing them on demand [7,8]. However, the outcome of our efforts to effectively encapsulate nisin in liposomes was not encouraging. For the purpose of prevention of dental caries, we investigated the effect of acyl chain lengths of liposomal nisin against cariogenic streptococci.