Reduction of proteolytic degradation by chlorhexidine.

The present investigation was designed to evaluate the effect of the antimicrobial agent chlorhexidine on proteolytic degradation. Chlorhexidine, at a final concentration of 0.01%, significantly (p = 0.05) affected the degradation of the general chromogenic substrate azocoll by both commercial proteases and cell-bound bacterial proteases. Reduction of proteolytic degradation was observed following pre-treatment of either azocoll or bacterial cells with chlorhexidine. Chlorhexidine was also found to prevent degradation of type I collagen by Porphyromonas gingivalis cells. The mechanism of inhibition of proteolytic degradation appears to be related to an electrostatic chlorhexidine-protein interaction.