Abstract

Oral infections are common health problems in companion animals, often associated with bacterial colonization, biofilm formation, and inflammation. This study investigates the efficacy of hypertonic salt tablets as an antibacterial approach and their effect on bacteria-associated inflammatory stimulation against important oral pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Pasteurella canis. Agar well diffusion showed that 0.3 g salt tablets exhibited antibacterial activity, with inhibition zones of 13.33 ± 0.89 mm for S. aureus and 28.75 ± 1.18 mm for P. canis, compared with 23.10 ± 0.87 mm and 31.43 ± 0.81 mm for 0.12% chlorhexidine, respectively. In vitro cytotoxicity assessment demonstrated that 1% v/v and 10% v/v released salt solutions maintained high cell viability (>80%), while morphology assays confirmed non-cytotoxicity of 1% v/v 24 h released salt solution. The 1% v/v and 10% v/v 10 min-released salt solution reduced relative biofilm formation in S. aureus to approximately 61% and 45%, respectively, and in P. canis to approximately 89% and 52%, respectively. Salt-treated bacterial suspensions induced lower NO production in RAW264.7 macrophages, decreasing NO levels from 33.17 ± 2.01 to 4.34 ± 0.65 µM for S. aureus and from 60.73 ± 0.99 to 36.33 ± 0.69 µM for P. canis, suggesting attenuation of bacteria-associated inflammatory stimulation. In a preliminary mouse oral mucosal wound model, local application of NaCl crystals for 30 min reduced total bacterial counts from 8.9 × 102 to 2.0 × 102 CFU/mL, corresponding to a 77.5% reduction. These findings suggest that hypertonic sodium chloride tablets may provide a simple localized approach for short-term reduction in oral bacterial burden and bacteria-associated inflammatory stimulation; however, further validation is required in clinically relevant oral disease models and companion animals.

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