Bruno Paiva dos Santos

Glycerol salicylate-based containing α-tricalcium phosphate as a bioactive root canal sealer

The use of bioactive materials instead of inert materials to fill the root canal space could be an effective approach to achieve a hermetic seal and stimulate the healing of periapical tissues. The purpose of this study was to develop and characterize an endodontic sealer based on a glycerol salicylate resin and α-tricalcium phosphate (αTCP) at physical and chemical properties. Different sealers were formulated using 70% of a glycerol salicylate resin and 30% of a mixture of calcium hydroxide and αTCP (0, 5, 10, or 15%, in weight). Sealers formulated were characterized based on setting time, in vitro degradation over time, pH, cytotoxicity, and mineral deposition. Sealers presented setting time ranging from 240 to 405 min, and basic pH over 8.21 after 28 days. Higher αTCP concentration leads to sealers with low solubility. Cell viability after 48 h in direct contact with sealers was similar to a commercial sealer used as reference. The 10% and 15% αTCP sealers exhibited a calcium-phosphate layer on the surface after immersion in water and SBF for 7 days. Glycerol salicylate sealers with 10% and 15% α-tricalcium phosphate showed reliable physical-chemical properties and apatite-forming ability.

Identification of suitable reference genes for quantitative gene expression analysis in rat adipose stromal cells induced to trilineage differentiation.

This study was designed to (i) identify stable reference genes for the analysis of gene expression during in vitro differentiation of rat adipose stromal cells (rASCs), (ii) recommend stable genes for individual treatment conditions, and (iii) validate these genes by comparison with normalization results from stable and unstable reference genes. On the basis of a literature review, eight genes were selected: Actb, B2m, Hprt1, Ppia, Rplp0, Rpl13a, Rpl5, and Ywhaz. Genes were ranked according to their stability under different culture conditions as assessed using GenNorm, NormFinder, and RefFinder algorithms. Although the employed algorithms returned different rankings, the most frequently top-ranked genes were: B2m and/or Ppia for all 28day treatments (ALL28); Ppia and Hprt1 (adipogenic differentiation; A28), B2m (chondrogenic differentiation; C28), Rpl5 (controls maintained in complete culture medium; CCM), Rplp0 (osteogenic differentiation for 3days; O3), Rpl13a and Actb (osteogenic differentiation for 7days; O7), Rplp0 and Ppia (osteogenic differentiation for 14days; O14), Hprt1 and Ppia (osteogenic differentiation for 28days; O28), as well as Actb (all osteogenesis time points combined; ALLOSTEO). The obtained results indicate that the performance of reference genes depends on the differentiation protocol and on the analysis time, thus providing valuable information for the design of RT-PCR experiments.