The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of solutions containing saturated anacardic acid (AA) on dentine erosion in vitro. AA was chemically isolated from natural cashew nutshell liquid obtained by continuous extraction in a Soxhlet extractor and was fully saturated by catalytic hydrogenation. Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) activity, when exposed to buffers containing 100 µmol/l AA, was analyzed using zymography. Bovine root samples were subjected to erosive demineralization (Sprite Zero™, 4 × 90 s/day) and remineralization with artificial saliva between the erosive cycles for 5 days. The samples were treated as follows, after the first and the last acid exposure (1 min; n = 12/group): (1) 100 µmol/l epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) (positive control); (2) 0.05% NaF; (3) 100 µmol/l saturated AA; (4) saturated AA and EGCG; (5) saturated AA, EGCG and NaF; (6) untreated (negative control). Dentine erosion was measured using a contact profilometer. Two dentine samples from each group were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. Saturated AA reduced the activity of MMP-2. ANOVA and Tukey’s test revealed that all treatments significantly reduced dentine loss compared to the negative control (6.03 ± 0.98 µm). Solutions containing saturated AA (1.97 ± 1.02 µm) showed the greatest reduction in dentine erosion compared to the NaF (3.93 ± 1.54 µm) and EGCG (3.79 ± 0.83 µm) solutions. Therefore, it may be concluded that AA significantly reduces dentine erosion in vitro, possibly by acting as an MMP-2 inhibitor.
