AN ANALYSIS OF THE THERMAL STABILITY OF PROTEINS IN THE PRESENCE OF THE COMPATIBLE OSMOLYTE TREHALOSE

Jai K. Kaushik and Rajiv Bhat
From the Centre for Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India  Journal Biol. Chem., Vol. 278, Issue 29, 26458-26465, July 18, 2003

Trehalose, a naturally occurring osmolyte, is known to be an exceptional stabilizer of proteins and helps retain the activity of enzymes in solution as well as in the freeze-dried state. To understand the mechanism of action of trehalose in detail, we have conducted a thorough investigation of its effect on the thermal stability in aqueous solutions of five well characterized proteins differing in their various physico-chemical properties.

Sugars and dental caries

Riva Touger-Decker and Cor van Loveren with the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Health Related Professions, New Jersey Dental School, Newark (RT-D), and the Academic Centre for Dentistry, Amsterdam (CvL).  Published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 78, No. 4, 881S-892S, October 2003

This paper outlines how [certain] disaccharides, particularly trehalose ... ha[s] a lower cariogenic risk than does sucrose.

[Dental caries is an infectious disease which damages the structures of teeth. Tooth decay or cavities are consequences of caries.]

Abstract:

A dynamic relation exists between sugars and oral health. Diet affects the integrity of the teeth; quantity, pH, and composition of the saliva; and plaque pH. Sugars and other fermentable carbohydrates, after being hydrolyzed by salivary amylase, provide substrate for the actions of oral bacteria, which in turn lower plaque and salivary pH. The resultant action is the beginning of tooth demineralization.