Establishment of Down’s syndrome periodontal ligament cells by transfection with SV40T-Ag and hTERT

Down’s syndrome is one of the most common human congenital genetic diseases and affected patients have increased risk of periodontal disease. To examine involvement of the disease with periodontal disease development, we established immortalized periodontal ligament cells obtained from a Down’s syndrome patient by use of SV40T-Ag and hTERT gene transfection. Expressions of SV40T-Ag and hTERT were observed in periodontal ligament cell-derived immortalized cells established from healthy (STPDL) and Down’s syndrome patient (STPDLDS) samples. Primary cultured periodontal ligament cells obtained from a healthy subject (pPDL) had a limited number of population doublings (< 40), while STPDL and STPDLDS cells continued to grow with more than 80 population doublings. Primary cultured periodontal ligament cells obtained from the patient showed a chromosome pattern characteristic of Down’s syndrome with trisomy 21, whereas STPDLDS samples showed a large number of abnormal chromosomes in those results. Gene expression analysis revealed that expression of DSCR-1 in STPDLDS is greater than that in STPDL. These results suggest that the newly established STPDLDS cell line may be a useful tool for study of periodontal disease in Down’s syndrome patients

小児歯科患児保護者の歯科用語認知率に関する検討

In order to establish an even and patient-oriented relationship between patients and dentists, the importance of smooth, bi-directional communication should be increasingly recognized. Dentists should make efforts to explain the treatment contents and instruct oral health care using clear and understandable words. The dental terminology sometimes can be a barrier to better mutual understanding between patients and dentists. In this study, the recognition rate for dental terms in guardians of child patients was investigated using a questionnaire method. Also, the recognition rate of the guardians for dental terminology was speculated by pediatric dentists, dentists under first year residency and dental students of 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th year using the same questionnaire. Prior to asking them to complete the questionnaire, the purpose and content of this study was explained to the subjects and consent was obtained. Among the 33 dental terms, "gingiva", "wisdom tooth" and "milk teeth" were 100% recognized by the guardians and nine other terms showed a recognition rate of more than 90%. As for speculation by dentists and dental students, they estimated the recognition rate lower than the actual rates in many cases, which means that the possibility is low for them to make explanations using dental terminology that is unfamiliar to the guardians. There existed a certain amount of gap between the recognition rate of dental terminology in the guardians of child patients and the estimation by the dentists and dental students. These results indicated that the explanations by dentists to the guardians of child patients should be conducted confirming carefully that they understand it

Establishment of Down’s syndrome periodontal ligament cells by transfection with SV40T-Ag and hTERT

Down’s syndrome is one of the most common human congenital genetic diseases and affected patients have increased risk of periodontal disease. To examine involvement of the disease with periodontal disease development, we established immortalized periodontal ligament cells obtained from a Down’s syndrome patient by use of SV40T-Ag and hTERT gene transfection. Expressions of SV40T-Ag and hTERT were observed in periodontal ligament cell-derived immortalized cells established from healthy (STPDL) and Down’s syndrome patient (STPDLDS) samples. Primary cultured periodontal ligament cells obtained from a healthy subject (pPDL) had a limited number of population doublings (< 40), while STPDL and STPDLDS cells continued to grow with more than 80 population doublings. Primary cultured periodontal ligament cells obtained from the patient showed a chromosome pattern characteristic of Down’s syndrome with trisomy 21, whereas STPDLDS samples showed a large number of abnormal chromosomes in those results. Gene expression analysis revealed that expression of DSCR-1 in STPDLDS is greater than that in STPDL. These results suggest that the newly established STPDLDS cell line may be a useful tool for study of periodontal disease in Down’s syndrome patients