Biological Activities and Potential Oral Applications of N-Acetylcysteine: Progress and Prospects

Table 3

Representative studies on antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities of N-acetylcysteine against various oral pathogenic microorganisms.

Pathogens examined	NAC concentrations (mg/mL)	Related niche	Reference
Gram-positive bacteria
Actinomyces naeslundii	1.56–25	C/E	[50]
Enterococcus faecalis	1.56–50	E	[48]
	1.56–25	E	[50]
	2.5–20	E	[57]
Lactobacillus salivarius	1.56–25	C	[50]
Staphylococcus aureus	20	C	[106]
	6–24	C	[107]
	80	C	[108]
	2–4	C	[109]
	80	C	[110]
Staphylococcus epidermidis	4–40	C	[111]
	0.03–2	C	[112]
	4–40	C	[113]
	80	C	[108]
	2–4	C	[109]
	0.5–32	C	[114]
	80	C	[110]
	0.003–8	C	[47]
Streptococcus mutans	0.78–6.25	C/E	[50]
Gram-negative bacteria
Acinetobacter baumannii	0.25–2	C/E	[62]
Enterobacter cloacae	80	E	[108]
	0.25–2	E	[62]
Escherichia coli	2–4	C/E/P	[109]
	0.007-8	C/E/P	[115]
Klebsiella pneumoniae		E	[106]
		E	[108]
		E	[109]
		E	[110]
		E	[62]
Prevotella intermedia	0.375–3	E/P	[58]
Proteus spp.	2.5	C/E/P	[106]
	2–4	C/E/P	[109]
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	2.5	C/E/P	[106]
	12.5	C/E/P	[116]
	3–24	C/E/P	[107]
	80	C/E/P	[108]
	0.5–10	C/E/P	[117]
Yeasts
Candida albicans	0.5–32	C/E/P	[114]
	0.312–40	C/E/P	[118]

C: caries; E: endodontic infections; P: periodontitis.