The role of Reactive Oxygen Species in odontogenesis

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K21004
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0907:Oral science and related fields
• Research Institution: Niigata University
• Principal Investigator: Kudo Takehisa 新潟大学, 医歯学総合病院, 医員 (70909770)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 歯の発生 / 活性酸素

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Oxygen is essential for our vital activities. Some of the oxygen taken into the body often change to reactive oxygen species (ROS), which obtain more activity than the normal state. Excess ROS are thought to be involved in aging, cancer, and lifestyle-related diseases, while ROS is also related to normal biological events such as signal transduction. However, ROS is not fully understood. This study investigated the ROS in tooth development. The results suggest the possibility that ROS is involved in the loss of cell proliferation in incisor enamel knot. On the other hand, no ROS were observed in molar tooth germs, indicating that the mechanism of loss of cell proliferation in molar is probably different from that in incisor.

Free Research Field

口腔解剖学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

疾患の発症誘因因子として知られる活性酸素は、生体の正常機能へも関与することが報告されている。正常機能の多くは生後のものであり、胎児における活性酸素の機能は報告がない。そのような中、歯胚に活性酸素が存在することを示した本研究の意義は大きい。今後、胎児における活性酸素の制御機構や、強弱の有無などを明らかにすることで、先天異常の発症機序に迫れる可能性がある。