A new approach to the bone regeneration -the effect of local lithium administration for facilitating bone regeneration-

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25463090
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Surgical dentistry
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Sasaki Masanori 九州大学, 大学病院, 助教 (30346803)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TAKAHASHI Fumi 九州大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 講師 (50274436) ; KAJIOKA Shunichi 九州大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (90274472)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 骨再生 / 歯科インプラント / Wnt/β-catenin 経路

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is known to be a key enzyme for regulating Wnt signaling pathway which is an important role of bone regeneration. We focused on “lithium”, GSK-3 inhibitor, and attempted to accelerate bone regeneration by local application of lithium. In in vivo experiment using rodents, our results demonstrated that lithium could facilitate bone formation. Subsequently, we evaluated whether lithium application into extraction sites of teeth would be safe and effective on bone healing in a clinical trial. Local application of lithium carbonate did not cause adverse events in the process of bone healing. Serum lithium concentrations also were lower than a detection limit in all research subjects. These result suggested that safety of local lithium application was confirmed. However, further study would be necessary to evaluate an effectiveness of local lithium application for facilitating bone regeneration.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学