Abstract
Dental caries is one of the most widespread diseases worldwide, caused by the bacterium Streptococcus mutans. As a potential solution, graphene-based nanomaterials offer antimicrobial properties by their ability to damage bacterial membranes and induce reactive oxygen species. However, their potential toxicity to patients raises safety concerns for their usage in clinical dentistry. This study aims to identify a concentration range of graphene oxide (GO) that can inhibit S. mutans while remaining non-toxic to the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Transgenic CL2166 (gst-4p::GFP) and TJ356 (daf-16p::GFP) C. elegans were used to assess locomotive impacts and oxidative stress by analyzing nuclear GFP expression via the gst-4 gene and daf-16 gene, respectively. The objective of this study was to identify a concentration window of GO that maximizes S. mutans inhibition while minimizing host toxicity in C. elegans. The resulting data suggests a potential therapeutic window between 1 and 10 µg/mL, as concentrations within this range achieved significant bacterial inhibition while avoiding the expression of systemic oxidative stress. Although a decline in some aspects of locomotion was observed in C. elegans at these levels, these findings capture a good foundation for balancing and refining the biocompatibility of graphene-based dental materials.