{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T16:58:27Z","timestamp":1784221107515,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,13]],"date-time":"2024-01-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1705104000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Deanship of Scientific Research, Qassim University"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Streptococcus mutans, the primary cause of dental caries, relies on its ability to create and sustain a biofilm (dental plaque) for survival and pathogenicity in the oral cavity. This study was focused on the antimicrobial biofilm formation control and biofilm dispersal potential of Coumaric acid (CA) against Streptococcus mutans on the dentin surface. The biofilm was analyzed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) viability assay, microtiter plate assay, production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs), florescence microscopy (surface coverage and biomass \u03bcm2) and three-dimensional (3D) surface plots. It was observed that CA at 0.01 mg\/mL reduced bacterial growth by 5.51%, whereases at 1 mg\/mL, a significant (p &lt; 0.05) reduction (98.37%) was observed. However, at 1 mg\/mL of CA, a 95.48% biofilm formation reduction was achieved, while a 73.45% biofilm dispersal (after 24 h. treatment) was achieved against the preformed biofilm. The MTT assay showed that at 1 mg\/mL of CA, the viability of bacteria in the biofilm was markedly (p &lt; 0.05) reduced to 73.44%. Moreover, polysaccharide (EPS) was reduced to 24.80 \u03bcg\/mL and protein (EPS) to 41.47 \u03bcg\/mL. ImageJ software (version 1.54 g) was used to process florescence images, and it was observed that the biofilm mass was reduced to 213 (\u03bcm2); the surface coverage was reduced to 0.079%. Furthermore, the 3D surface plots showed that the untreated biofilm was highly dense, with more fibril-like projections. Additionally, molecular docking predicted a possible interaction pattern of CA (ligand) with the receptor Competence Stimulating Peptide (UA159sp, PDB ID: 2I2J). Our findings suggest that CA has antibacterial and biofilm control efficacy against S. mutans associated with dental plaque under tested conditions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules29020397","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,15]],"date-time":"2024-01-15T07:25:07Z","timestamp":1705303507000},"page":"397","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Combating Cariogenic Streptococcus mutans Biofilm Formation and Disruption with Coumaric Acid on Dentin Surface"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"29","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-9652-7565","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Syed Sohail","family":"Ahmad","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Hazara University, Mansehra 21300, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6547-9532","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Muhammad Faisal","family":"Siddiqui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Hazara University, Mansehra 21300, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Farhana","family":"Maqbool","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Hazara University, Mansehra 21300, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5655-4975","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ihsan","family":"Ullah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6624-9285","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fazal","family":"Adnan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Atta Ur Rahman School of Applied Biosciences, National University of Sciences & Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8697-5340","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aqel","family":"Albutti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Biotechnology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0203-9921","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Noorah","family":"Alsowayeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, College of Science in Al-Zulfi, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0795-200X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ziaur","family":"Rahman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan 23200, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"87","article-title":"Dental plaque biofilm in oral health and disease","volume":"14","author":"Seneviratne","year":"2011","journal-title":"Chin. 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