The Ionic Products from Mineral Trioxide Aggregate-induced Odontogenic Differentiation of Dental Pulp Cells via Activation of the Wnt/β-catenin Signaling Pathway.

Introduction: Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has been successfully used in clinical applications in endodontics. However, little is known about the involvement of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in human dental pulp cells (hDPC) differentiation with the interaction of MTA in hard tissue regeneration, especially in odontogenesis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore odontogenic/osteogenic gene expression and the protein secretion of hDPCs cultured with consecutive concentrations of MTA extracts and carefully examine the particular molecular mechanism that occurs during this process.

Methods: MTA extracts were prepared by immersing MTA powders into Dulbecco modified Eagle medium at a concentration of 200 mg/mL. hDPCs were cultured with various concentrations of MTA extracts, and the resulting changes in the cells, such as proliferation and odontogenic differentiation, were measured.

Results: The results indicate that hDPC proliferation increases remarkably in a time-dependent manner in most treatment groups, except the highest concentration group (200 mg/mL). The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway-related genes and proteins are significantly raised when hDPCs are cultured in a wide concentration range of MTA extracts compared with a control, except for the highest concentration group (100 mg/mL), on days 3 and 7 (P < .05).

Conclusions: These variations indicate that Wnt/β-catenin signaling is involved in MTA extract-induced odontogenic differentiation of hDPCs.