Ülkü Özan

Association of Toll-like receptors 2, 3, and 4 genes polymorphisms with periapical pathosis risk

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the role of gene variations of Toll-like receptors (TLR) 2, 3, and 4 on genetic susceptibility to periapical pathosis. Material and Methods One hundred patients were included in the study and divided into two groups as follows; Control Group (n=50) that have root canal treatment and no periapical lesion, Patient Group (n=50) that have root canal treatment and periapical lesion. TLR2 Arg753Gln, TLR3 (c.1377C/T) and TLR4 Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile polymorphisms were genotyped by using PCR-RFLP. Genotypical analysis of control and patient groups were investigated to disclose whether there is any association between periapical lesions and gene variations. Results There are no significant statistical differences between control and patient groups according to TLR 2 and 4 gene sequence. On the contrary, CC allele detected 74% for TLR 3 in patient group, and this difference was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.005). Conclusions According to these results, it can be suggested that patients with Toll-like receptor 3 gene polymorphisms could be susceptible to periapical pathosis. Key words:Toll-like receptors, periapical pathosis, endodontics.

Neurotoxicity evaluation of three root canal sealers on cultured rat trigeminal ganglion neurons

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the possible neurotoxic effects of 3 root canal sealers (RCSs) (AH Plus, GuttaFlow, iRoot SP) on cultured rat trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons. Material and Methods Primary cultures of TG neurons were obtained from 1 to 2-day old rats. Freshly mixed RCSs were incubated in sterile phosphate buffered saline and cells were incubated with supernatants of the RCSs for different time intervals (1-, 3-, 6- and 24-h; 1 or 1/10 diluted) and viability/cytotoxicity was tested by counting the number of live cells. Pair of dishes with cells from the same culture incubated with only culture medium was considered as negative controls. Cell images were captured and acquired at x200 magnification using a microscope equipped with a camera using special image program. The viable cells were manually counted assigned from the images for each dose and incubation duration. Data was analysed by using 1-way analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc tests. Results There was no significant change in cell viability after short duration of incubation (1- and 3-h) with the supernatant of any of RCSs, except for undiluted-AH Plus at 3-h. When AH Plus was compared with other RCSs, for diluted supernatants, there was only significant difference between iRoot SP and AH Plus at 24-h (P<0.05). Whereas undiluted-AH Plus was significantly more cytotoxic for 3-, 6- and 24-h periods as compared to respective incubation periods of undiluted other groups (P<0.05). GuttaFlow groups had similar neurotoxic effect on cells for all test periods. Conclusions All tested RCSs exhibited a variable degree of neurotoxicity on these primary sensory neurons of orofacial tissues, depending on their chemical compositions. GuttaFlow and iRoot SP evoked a less toxic response to TG cells than AH Plus. Key words:Neurotoxicity, trigeminal ganglia, cell culture, root canal sealer, AH Plus, GuttaFlow, iRoot SP.

Oral mikroorganizmalara karşı propolisin antimikrobiyal etkinliği

Cesitli amaclarla halk hekimliginde binlerce yildir dogal urunler kullanilmaktadir. Bu urunlerin arasinda, patojenik mikroorganizmalar uzerine antimikrobiyal aktivitesi cok iyi olan propolis, son zamanlarda cok fazla ilgi cekmektedir. Propolis icerigi, arinin gezdigi alanlardaki floraya ve toplandigi zamana gore oldukca farklilik ve zenginlik gostermektedir. Kimyasal bilesimlerindeki farkliliklara ragmen, tum propolis urunleri belirgin bicimde antimikrobiyal etkinlik gostermektedir. Bunlar, farmakolojik olarak aktif molekuller flavonoidler, fenolik asitler ve esterler olarak sayilabilir. Son zamanlarda yapilan calismalardan elde edilen verilere gore propolis, agizdaki patojenik mikroorganizmalar uzerine belirgin inhibisyon gostermektedir. Antimikrobiyal ajanlara karsi mikroorganizmalarin direnc gelistirmeleri, gelistirdikleri direnc mekanizmalarini bakteriler arasi iliski ile birbirlerine aktarmalari ve diger yan etkileri de goz onunde bulunduruldugunda agiz boslugu hastaliklarinin tedavisinde yeni tedavi yontemleri oldukca onem arz etmektedir.