How To Help Cementum Repair

Report in Mice Suggests a New Approach to Treating Periodontal Disease

Tuesday, May 18, 2022

New IRP research suggests a novel strategy for treating periodontal disease, in which an infection of the gums causes the roots of the teeth to deteriorate, forth with the parts of the jaw bone that support them.

Our teeth are extremely tough, but neglectful oral hygiene practices and certain genetic disorders tin can notwithstanding massively harm them. If this deterioration becomes bad enough, teeth can be permanently lost. In a recent study, IRP researchers identified a promising new strategy for helping the body regenerate a function of the tooth that is particularly difficult to repair.^ane

When it comes to taking intendance of our teeth, the enamel coating surrounding the upper portion of teeth tends to go most of the attention. It is, after all, the most visible part of our teeth and the hardest substance in the human trunk. However, a substance called cementum that surrounds the roots of our teeth is likewise incredibly important. The cementum helps our teeth remain in our mouths by attaching them to periodontal ligaments connected to surrounding jaw os.

"The cementum effectually the molar root is one of the tissues that has to be repaired to restore the tooth's function later periodontal affliction," explains IRP senior investigator Martha J. Somerman, D.D.S, Ph.D., the new study's senior author. "A lot of scientists take been focusing on promoting bone regrowth, but if you do that without considering the need for a healthy cementum, you will non restore proper role."

Unfortunately, damaged cementum doesn't regenerate very quickly when left to its own devices, if it heals at all, and current approaches to rebuilding information technology have not proven to be very effective. In the new report, Dr. Somerman's team investigated whether an enzyme naturally plant in the homo body called alkaline phosphatase (ALP) could assistance repair damaged cementum by boosting the process that builds teeth and bone, known as mineralization. Prior research had shown that ALP transforms a chemical chosen pyrophosphate, which inhibits mineralization, into another molecule chosen phosphate, which promotes mineralization.

Human tooth diagram-en.svg from Wikimedia Commons by K. D. Schroeder, CC-Past-SA iv.0. The periodontal ligament (not labeled) connects the cementum to the jaw bone.

The IRP report utilized a mouse model of periodontal disease that lacks the gene for an of import bone- and cementum-building protein called bone sialoprotein. The researchers began by giving five-day-quondam mice a 'systemic' therapy that quadrupled their blood'south level of tissue-nonspecific alkali metal phosphatase (TNAP), a form of ALP found in bones. At two months of age, the mice that recieved the therapy had cementum that was more than twice as thick equally the cementum of their untreated counterparts, and they likewise showed greater growth of the jaw os that surrounds the cementum. Moreover, their teeth were just as well-attached to the periodontal ligament every bit the teeth of untreated, genetically normal mice.

"Bone sialoprotein is thought to exist a critical molecule for mineralization," Dr. Somerman explains, "so this is a perfect proof-of-principle model to examine whether you tin can regenerate cementum."

Next, using five-week-former mice with the same genetic defect, Dr. Somerman's team investigated the effects of delivering TNAP directly to the expanse where the degraded periodontal tissue was rather than raising TNAP levels in the entire body. The treated animals showed similar beneficial effects to the mice that had received the systemic TNAP-boosting therapy. What'due south more, the locally delivered TNAP treatment also promoted growth of the cementum and surrounding jaw bone in genetically normal mice.

A final set of experiments in cells showed that ALP corrected mineralization deficiencies in cementum-producing cells, called cementoblasts, that had the same genetic defect equally the mice. Even so, treating those cells with a chemical that disrupts the transport of phosphate into cells diminished the ALP's beneficial effects, strongly suggesting that the TNAP treatment given to the mice promoted regeneration of the cementum and surrounding bone past increasing the amount of phosphate available for cementoblasts to employ for the rebuilding process.

Dr. Martha Somerman (front-row, left) with members of her lab in 2022.

Moving forrard, the IRP scientists will continue refining their TNAP treatment and working to move therapies based on their findings into clinical trials. The fact that TNAP is already FDA-approved for use in humans with genetic TNAP deficiencies could hasten its adoption as a handling to help rebuild the cementum and jaw bone of people with severe periodontal disease. Importantly, delivering TNAP directly into the damaged area, as the researchers did in their new report, would likely have fewer side furnishings than introducing it throughout the body.

"We're incredibly excited virtually this," Dr. Somerman says. "Our studies showed that even in a normal mouse that doesn't have a genetic defect, you lot tin promote the formation of cementum. It is very rewarding to place factors, such as TNAP, as promising therapies for individuals with periodontal disease."

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References:

[one] Delivery of Alkaline metal Phosphatase Promotes Periodontal Regeneration in Mice. Nagasaki A, Nagasaki M, Kear BD, Tadesse WD, Thumbigere-Math V, Millán JL, Foster BL, Somerman MJ. J Paring Res. 2022 Apr 10; 220345211005677. doi: 10.1177/00220345211005677.

How To Help Cementum Repair,

Source: https://irp.nih.gov/blog/post/2021/05/enzyme-therapy-helps-rebuild-teeth

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