Effect of arecoline on the differentiation of myofibroblasts of oral mucosa / 中华口腔医学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the origin of myofibroblasts in oral submucous fibrosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The oral keratinocytes and fibroblasts were isolated and cultured. The expression of the alpha-smooth muscle actin in the fibroblasts was examined by immunohistochemistry and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>No difference was found in expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin between the fibroblasts that were directly stimulated by arecoline and the control. The expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin in the keratinocyte and fibroblast-cocultured group was higher than in the control group, and higher in fibroblasts cocultured with keratinocytes preprocessed by arecoline than in fibroblasts cocultured with keratinocytes without preprocessed by arecoline.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The differentiation of myofibroblasts from fibroblasts in oral submucous fibrosis might be induced by the interaction of arecoline and keratinocyte.</p>