Calcitonin gene-related peptide effects on phenotype and IL-12 production of monocyte-derived dendritic cells in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Recent studies on human indicate that the introduction of therapeutic use of tolerogenic dendritic cell [DC] for chronic inflammatory conditions is imminent. For the purpose of defining CGRP potency in tolerogenic DC production, we investigated the phenotype and IL-12 production of DCs generated from the monocytes of rheumatoid arthritis [RA] patients in the presence of the calcitonin gene-related peptide [CDRP], as a multifunctional neuropeptide. DCs were generated from isolated monocytes from four resistant and two early female RA patients using IL-4, GM-CSF, and CGRP at concentrations of 0, 1, and 100 nM. Then, the phenotype of neuropeptide-treated or untreated DCs was determined using flow cytometry and the IL-12 production was measured by ELISA. Our study showed that, on the last day of the culture, at a concentration of 1 nM CGRP, the mean fluorescence intensity [MFI] for CD80 increased [14.13%] and the MFIs for CD83, CD86, and HLA-DR decreased [14.57%, 5.28%, and 6.88% respectively]. Moreover, at 100 nM CGRP concentration, the MFI for CD80 increased [11.10%] and the MFIs for CD83, CD86, and HLA-DR decreased [4.27%, 18.60%, and 19.75% respectively]. In addition, our results indicated that the mean concentrations of IL-12 produced at 0, 1, and 100 nm CGRP concentrations measured 13.72 +/- 2.41, 11.01 +/- 1.61, and 7 +/- 1.34 pg/ml respectively. Decreased CD83, CD86, and HLA-DR expression and reduced IL-12 production by CGRP were found in the RA patients' monocyte-derived DCs. CD83 is a well-defined DC activation marker. HLA-DR and CD86 are appropriate molecules for inducing an immune response. IL-12 promotes cell-mediated immunity. Therefore we suggest that CGRP may be used as an inducer in the production of tolerogenic DCs

Cytotoxic effect of a new endodontic cement and mineral trioxide aggregate on L929 line culture

The aim of this study was to compare the cytotoxicity of Mineral Trioxide Aggregate [MTA] and a New Endodontic Cement [NEC] on L929 mouse fibroblasts. Different dilutions [Neat, 1/2, 1/10, 1/100] of fresh and set materials placed adjacent flasks of L929 in DMEM medium. Cellular viability was assessed using MTT assay in three time intervals [24, 48, and 72 h after mixing]. Differences in mean cell viability values between materials were assessed by using the One-way ANOVA and Bonferoni post-test. Optical microscopic analysis of morphology of the untreated control and the cementtreated cell cultures were carried out in all experimental periods. It was indicated that there was not a significant difference in cytotoxicity among the materials of test and between them and the control group. However, there was a statistically significant difference between different time intervals within each group [P