BACKGROUND Odontoblasts are specialized cells that form dentin and they are believed to be sensors for tooth pain. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), a pro-inflammatory cytokine expressed early in odontoblasts, plays an important role in the immune response during tooth inflammation and infection. TGF-β1 is also known to participate in pain signaling by regulating cyclin-dependent kinase 5...

UNLABELLED Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) is recommended for a number of clinical procedures and it has been pointed out as a potential cavity cleanser to be applied before adhesive restoration of dental cavities. OBJECTIVE As CHX may diffuse through the dentinal tubules to reach a monolayer of odontoblasts that underlies the dentin substrate, this study evaluated the cytotoxic effects of diff...

Prolyl hydroxylase (PHD) inhibitors are suggested as therapeutic agents for tissue regeneration based on their ability to induce pro-angiogenic responses. In this study, we examined the effect of the PHD inhibitor dimethyloxalylglycine (DMOG) on odontoblast maturation and sought to determine the underlying mechanism using MDPC-23 odontoblast-like cells. DMOG significantly enhanced matrix minera...

The mechanism of pain in dentine hypersensitivity is poorly understood but proposed to result from the activation of dental sensory neurons in response to dentinal fluid movements. Odontoblasts have been suggested to contribute to thermal and mechanosensation in the tooth via expression of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels. However, a mechanism by which odontoblasts could modulate neu...

Recently, transgenic mice that carry a Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) reporter gene fused to 2.3 kb fragment of rat Col1a1 regulatory sequences (pOBCol2.3GFPemd) were generated. In the present study, we have examined the patterns of expression of Col1a1-2.3-GFP during odontoblast differentiation in this transgenic line. We report that Col1a1-2.3-GFP is expressed in newly differentiated odontob...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to clarify the functional significance of heat-shock protein (HSP)-25 during tooth development. DESIGN We compared the expression of HSP-25 in the dental epithelial and mesenchymal cells with their proliferative activity during odontogenesis in rat molars on postnatal days 1-100 by immunohistochemistry using anti-HSP-25 and anti-5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (Brd...

The elaboration of dentin collagen precursors by the odontoblasts in the incisor teeth of 30-40-g rats was investigated by electron microscopy, histochemistry, and radioautography after intravenous injection of tritium-labeled proline. At 2 min after injection, when the labeling of blood proline was high, radioactivity was restricted to the rough endoplasmic reticulum, indicating that it is the...