PHILADELPHIA, July 16,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Have you ever wondered why scars
rarely form in the mouth? Researchers at Penn Dental Medicine
have pondered this very question, and they are on their way to
finding the answer.
"Oral tissues exhibit remarkably regenerative properties, unlike
many other organs in the human body," says Dr. Kang Ko, Assistant Professor in the Department
of Periodontics. "The goal is to understand the cellular and
molecular mechanism by which this occurs in the oral cavity, with
the hope of employing therapeutics to enhance oral soft and hard
tissue healing, as well as translating these unique healing
properties to other body parts to promote regeneration over
repair."
To get a better handle on the exceptionally accelerated wound
healing in the oral cavity, Ko's lab is investigating different
populations of oral fibroblasts. These types of cells form
connective tissue, and work from Ko's studies is revealing they may
play important roles in the wound healing process.
In a Journal of Experimental Medicine paper, the
researchers reported finding a unique subset of oral fibroblasts
that is primed to promote rapid wound healing. The team studied
what happens to wounds in mice in two different parts of the
palate—the front, or anterior, region that heals rapidly and the
back, or posterior, palate that heals more slowly. In the study,
they identified a distinct population of cells called
paired-related homeobox-1+ (Prx1+)
fibroblasts in the anterior palate that are missing from the
posterior section, and they showed that these cells are responsible
for quick wound healing observed in the mouth. Transplanting these
cells to the posterior palate sped up healing, and deleting the
cells in the anterior section delayed the process. In human
gingival samples, these Prx1+ fibroblasts were in the
same locations and expressed the same genes.
The results support an emerging concept that fibroblasts are
actively involved in supporting the body's immune response,
contrasting with the traditional view that these cells are
featureless building blocks for maintaining structure. "The
potential of this finding is significant not only for periodontal
regeneration—for instance, the ability to take grafts from tissues
enriched with pro-healing fibroblasts—but also for its implications
in other parts of body that heal sub-optimally," says Ko.
"Regeneration over scar formation in response to injury is a huge
topic."
Contact:
Beth Adams, adamsnb@upenn.edu
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SOURCE PENN DENTAL MEDICINE