ABSTRACT
Dental pulp can initiate its damage repair after an injury of the pulp-dentin complex by rearrangement of odontoblasts and formation of newly differentiated odontoblast-like cells. Connexin 43 (Cx43) is one of the gap junction proteins that participates in multiple tissue repair processes. However, the role of Cx43 in the repair of the dental pulp remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the function of Cx43 in the odontoblast arrangement patterns and odontoblastic differentiation. Human teeth for in vitro experiments were acquired, and a pulp injury model in Sprague-Dawley rats was used for in vivo analysis. The odontoblast arrangement pattern and the expression of Cx43 and dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) were assessed. To investigate the function of Cx43 in odontoblastic differentiation, we overexpressed or inhibited Cx43. The results indicated that polarized odontoblasts were arranged along the pulp-dentin interface and had high levels of Cx43 expression in the healthy teeth; however, the odontoblast arrangement pattern was slightly changed concomitant to an increase in the Cx43 expression in the carious teeth. Regularly arranged odontoblast-like cells had high levels of the Cx43 expression during the formation of mature dentin, but the odontoblast-like cells were not regularly arranged beneath immature osteodentin in the pulp injury models. Subsequent in vitro experiments demonstrated that Cx43 is upregulated during odontoblastic differentiation of the dental pulp cells, and inhibition or overexpression of Cx43 influence the odontoblastic differentiation. Thus, Cx43 may be involved in the maintenance of odontoblast arrangement patterns, and influence the pulp repair outcomes by the regulation of odontoblastic differentiation.
Subject(s)
Animals , Rats , Cell Differentiation , Connexin 43 , Dental Pulp , Extracellular Matrix Proteins , Odontoblasts , Phosphoproteins , Rats, Sprague-DawleyABSTRACT
The first branchial arch (BA1), which is derived from cranial neural crest (CNC) cells, gives rise to various orofacial tissues. Cre mice are widely used for the determination of CNC and exploration of gene functions in orofacial development. However, there is a lack of Cre mice specifically marked BA1's cells. Pax2-Cre allele was previously generated and has been widely used in the field of inner ear development. Here, by compounding Pax2-Cre and R26R-mTmG mice, we found a specific expression pattern of Pax2
Subject(s)
Animals , Mice , Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4 , Branchial Region , Mesenchymal Stem Cells , SkullABSTRACT
Interleukin(IL)-1β, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, was elevated and participates in periodontitis. Not only the link between IL-1β and periodontitis was proved by clinical evidence, but also the increased IL-1β triggers a series of inflammatory reactions and promotes bone resorption. Currently, IL-1β blockage has been therapeutic strategies for autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes, gout and type II diabetes mellitus. It is speculated that IL-1β be a potential therapeutic target for periodontitis. The review focuses on the production, mechanism, present treatments and future potential strategies for IL-1β in periodontitis.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the application of nanodisc in functional and drug discovery research of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR).Methods The purified recombinant 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2B receptor (5-HT2BR) was reconstituted into nanodisc complex.Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and size exclution chromatography were performed to evaluate the reconstitution reaction,followed by the use of surface plasmon resonance to validate the ligand-binding activity of 5-HT2BR after reconstitution.Results 5-HT2B R was effectively self-assembled into nanodisc while maintained its binding activity toward the antagonist SB204741.Conclusions The presented study provided potential application of 5-HT2B R-nanodisc for the development of subtype-selective drugs against 5-HT2B R and the fundamental of utilizing nanodisc for GPCR structural and functional studies as well as drug discovery.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the biological significance of differentially expressed proteins from human primary lung adenocarcinoma with lymph node metastasis adenocarcinoma (LNM AdC) and without metastasis (non-LNM AdC) according to clinical diagnosis of lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis,with bioinformatics approach.Methods Cytoscape software was used to analyze a functional enrichment analysis and a protein-protein interaction network from differentially expressed proteins from LNM AdC and non-LNM AdC.Results The top biological processes were related to glucose catabolic process,hexose catabolic process,monosaccharide catabolic process,alcohol catabolic process,and cellular carbohydrate catabolic process.The top molecular functions were related to phospholipase inhibitor activity,lipase inhibitor activity,calcium-dependent phospholipid binding,phosphlipase A2 inhibitor activity,and lipid binding.A protein-protein interaction network of differentially expressed proteins was generated with literature data.Conclusions This bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that glucose catabolic process,alcohol catabolic process,calcium-dependent phospholipid binding,phosphlipase A2 inhibitor activity,ACTB,ANXA1,ANXA2,ANXA3,VCP,NPM1,KRT1,and SUMO4 are significantly associated with a lung adenocarcinoma.These network data provide new insights into the metastasis mechanisms of human lung adenocarcinoma.