A cell-free difunctional demineralized bone matrix scaffold enhances the recruitment and osteogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells by promoting inflammation resolution

Aptamers in dentistry: diagnosis, therapeutics, and future perspectives

Oral health is essential to general health. The diagnosis of dental diseases and treatment planning of dental care need to be straightforward and accurate. Recent studies have reported the use of aptamers in dentistry to achieve a simple diagnosis and facilitate therapy. Aptamers comprise nucleic acid sequences that possess a strong affinity for their target. Synthesized chemically, aptamers have several advantages, including smaller size, higher stability, and lower immunogenicity compared with monoclonal antibodies. They can be used to detect biomarkers in saliva and the presence of various pathogens, or can be used as a targeted drug delivery system for disease treatment. This review highlights current research on aptamers for dental care, especially the recent progress in oral disease diagnosis and therapeutics. The challenges and unresolved problems faced by the clinical use of aptamers are also discussed. In the future, the clinical applications of aptamers will be further extended to include, for example, dental indications and regenerative dentistry.

Impact of Specialized Pro-Resolving Lipid Mediators on Craniofacial and Alveolar Bone Regeneration: Scoping Review

Craniofacial bone defects caused by tumors, trauma, long-term tooth loss, or periodontal disease are a major challenge in the field of tissue engineering. In periodontitis and peri-implantitis, reconstructive therapy is also a major challenge for the dental surgeon. Lipoxins, resolvins, protectins, and maresins, known as specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators (SPMs), have been widely studied in the field of dental, oral, and craniofacial research for bone regeneration for their actions in restoring tissue homeostasis and promoting tissue healing and regeneration. Therefore, this study focuses on a survey of the use of SPMs for craniofacial and alveolar bone regeneration. Thus, electronic searches of five databases were performed to identify pre-clinical studies that evaluated the actions of SMPs on craniofacial and alveolar bone regeneration. Of the 523 articles retrieved from the electronic databases, 19 were included in the analysis. Resolvin (Rv) E1 was the mostly assessed SPM (n=8), followed by maresins (Ma) R1 (n=3), lipoxins (Lx) A4 (n=3), RvD1 (n=3), RvD2 (n=1), LxB4 (n=1), and maresin (M)-CTR3 (n=1). Meta-analysis showed that SPMs increased the newly formed bone by 14.85% compared to the control group (p<0.00001), decreased the area of the remaining defect by 0.35 mm2 (p<0.00001), and decreased the linear distance between the defect to the bone crest by 0.53 mm (p<0.00001). RvE1 reduced inflammatory bone resorption in periodontal defects and calvarial osteolysis and enhanced bone regeneration when RvE1 was combined with a bovine bone graft. RvD2 induced active resolution of inflammation and tissue regeneration in periapical lesions, while RvD1 controlled the inflammatory microenvironment in calvarial defects in rats, promoting bone healing and angiogenesis. MaR1 induced the proliferation and migration of mesenchymal stem cells, osteogenesis, and angiogenesis in calvarial defects, and benzo (b)-LxA4 and LxA4 promoted bone regeneration calvarial and alveolar bone defects in rats, inducing regeneration under inflammatory conditions. In summary, SPMs have emerged as pivotal contributors to the resolution of inflammation and the facilitation of bone neoformation within craniofacial and alveolar bone defects. These results are based on pre-clinical studies, in vivo and in vitro, and provide an updated review regarding the impact of SPMs in tissue engineering.

maresin2 fine-tunes ULK1 O-GlcNAcylation to improve post myocardial infarction remodeling

BACKGROUND

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the common causes of hospitalization and death all over the world. Maresin2 (MaR2), a specialized pro-solving mediator of inflammation, has been consolidated to be a novel cytokine fine-tuning inflammatory cascade. However, the precise mechanism is still unknown. Here, we demonstrated that maresin2 relieved myocardial damage via ULK1 O-GlcNAc modification during MI.

METHODS

The myocardial infarction model was established by ligating the left anterior descending artery (LAD). Echocardiography, histopathology, transmission electron microscope, and Western blot were used to evaluate cardiac function and remodeling. Furthermore, primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs) were cultivated, and immunoprecipitation (IP) assays were performed to explore the specific mechanism.

RESULTS

As suggested, maresin2 treatment protected cardiac function and ameliorated adverse cardiac remodeling. Furthermore, we found that maresin2 facilitated autophagy and inhibited apoptosis under the modulation of O-GlcNAcylation-dependent ULK1 activation. Meanwhile, we discovered that maresin2 treatment ameliorated the inflammation of myocardial cells by inhibiting the interaction of TAK1 and TAB1.

CONCLUSIONS

Maresin2 is likely to promote autophagy while relieving apoptosis and inflammation of myocardial cells, thereby exerting a protective effect on the heart after MI.

Nondestructive and high-resolution monitoring of inflammation-type skull defects regeneration on adult zebrafish with optical coherence tomography

Optimized animal models and effective imaging techniques are exceedingly important to study cranial defects in bone loss due to chronic inflammation. In this study, the assessment procedure on a zebrafish inflammation-type skull defects model was monitored in vivo with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and the efficacy of etidronate disodium in bone regeneration was assessed. An acute skull defect injury model was established in adult zebrafish using a stereotaxic craniotomy device. SD-OCT imaging was performed immediately following the mechanical injury. Both SD-OCT and immunohistochemistry results demonstrated an increase in inflammation-induced skull destruction within 5 days, which was confirmed by pathological experiments.

Maresin: Macrophage Mediator for Resolving Inflammation and Bridging Tissue Regeneration-A System-Based Preclinical Systematic Review

Maresins are lipid mediators derived from omega-3 fatty acids with anti-inflammatory and pro-resolving properties, capable of promoting tissue regeneration and potentially serving as a therapeutic agent for chronic inflammatory diseases. The aim of this review was to systematically investigate preclinical and clinical studies on maresin to inform translational research. Two independent reviewers performed comprehensive searches with the term "Maresin (NOT) Review" on PubMed. A total of 137 studies were included and categorized into 11 human organ systems. Data pertinent to clinical translation were specifically extracted, including delivery methods, optimal dose response, and specific functional efficacy. Maresins generally exhibit efficacy in treating inflammatory diseases, attenuating inflammation, protecting organs, and promoting tissue regeneration, mostly in rodent preclinical models. The nervous system has the highest number of original studies (n = 25), followed by the cardiovascular system, digestive system, and respiratory system, each having the second highest number of studies (n = 18) in the field. Most studies considered systemic delivery with an optimal dose response for mouse animal models ranging from 4 to 25 μg/kg or 2 to 200 ng via intraperitoneal or intravenous injection respectively, whereas human in vitro studies ranged between 1 and 10 nM. Although there has been no human interventional clinical trial yet, the levels of MaR1 in human tissue fluid can potentially serve as biomarkers, including salivary samples for predicting the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases and periodontal diseases; plasma and synovial fluid levels of MaR1 can be associated with treatment response and defining pathotypes of rheumatoid arthritis. Maresins exhibit great potency in resolving disease inflammation and bridging tissue regeneration in preclinical models, and future translational development is warranted.

Stem cell homing in periodontal tissue regeneration

The destruction of periodontal tissue is a crucial problem faced by oral diseases, such as periodontitis and tooth avulsion. However, regenerating periodontal tissue is a huge clinical challenge because of the structural complexity and the poor self-healing capability of periodontal tissue. Tissue engineering has led to advances in periodontal regeneration, however, the source of exogenous seed cells is still a major obstacle. With the improvement of in situ tissue engineering and the exploration of stem cell niches, the homing of endogenous stem cells may bring promising treatment strategies in the future. In recent years, the applications of endogenous cell homing have been widely reported in clinical tissue repair, periodontal regeneration, and cell therapy prospects. Stimulating strategies have also been widely studied, such as the combination of cytokines and chemokines, and the implantation of tissue-engineered scaffolds. In the future, more research needs to be done to improve the efficiency of endogenous cell homing and expand the range of clinical applications.