Effect of short chain fatty acids on human gingival epithelial cell keratins in vitro.
Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku, Finland. marja.pollanen@utu.fi
Hemidesmosomal attachment of the junctional
epithelial cells to the tooth and the ability of the attached cells to
divide are essential features of the healthy dentogingival junction.
Short chain fatty acids are bacterial metabolites associated with
gingival inflammation and periodontal pockets. In vitro, short chain
fatty acids have been shown to inhibit epithelial cell division and
increase the density of their keratin filaments. This study examined
these keratin changes by making use of human gingival keratinocyte
cultures, gel electrophoresis and Western blot. Short chain fatty
acids, butyrate and propionate, increased the relative amount of
keratin proteins in the cells, most strikingly keratin K17. The
distribution of K17 was further studied in a culture model for human
junctional epithelium and in gingival biopsies. In butyrate-treated
cultures of junctional epithelium, K17 expression was markedly
increased and extended to the basal cells and to the cells mediating
the attachment of the explant to the substratum. In clinically healthy
gingiva, K17 was expressed predominantly in sulcular epithelium. The
dividing basal cells and the cells attached to the tooth were negative.
In advanced periodontitis, a strong reaction for K17 was localised to
the pocket epithelium. The inhibition of epithelial cell division and
the simultaneous upregulation of K17 in vitro, and the strong
expression of this protein in detached pocket epithelium suggest a role
for the short chain fatty acids in the degenerative process that leads
to subgingival advancement of pathogens and, eventually, to periodontal
pocket formation.
PMID: 11153927 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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