Center for Oral Health Research, College of Dentistry, Department of Statistics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536-0305, USA.
J Dent Res. 2011 Jul;90(7):880-6. doi: 10.1177/0022034511403744. Epub 2011 Apr 6.
Cellular and molecular changes of the periodontium associated with a higher prevalence of oral diseases (e.g., chronic periodontitis) in aged populations have received little attention. Since impaired apoptosis during aging appears to be related to chronic inflammatory disorders, we hypothesized that the expression of genes associated with apoptotic processes are altered in aged healthy and periodontitis-affected gingival tissue. Ontology analysis of 88 genes related to apoptotic pathways was performed in gingival biopsies of healthy and periodontitis sites from young, adult, and aged non-human primates (Macaca mulatta), using the GeneChip® Rhesus Macaque Genome Array. Lower expression of anti-apoptotic and higher expression of pro-apoptotic genes were associated with healthy gingival tissue from young compared with aged animals. Few differences in gene expression were observed in healthy gingival tissue between adult and aged animals. Comparison between healthy and periodontitis gingival tissues showed that the up- or down-regulated apoptotic genes in diseased gingival tissue are different in adults compared with aged animals. These results suggest that apoptotic events normally occurring in gingival tissues could be reduced in aging,and unique aspects of apoptotic pathways are potentially involved in the pathophysiology of periodontal disease in adult vs. aged gingival tissues.
牙周组织的细胞和分子变化与老年人群中口腔疾病（如慢性牙周炎）的高患病率有关，但这一问题尚未得到充分关注。由于衰老过程中细胞凋亡受损似乎与慢性炎症性疾病有关，我们假设与细胞凋亡过程相关的基因表达在老年健康和牙周炎相关的牙龈组织中发生了改变。本研究使用 GeneChip®恒河猴基因组芯片，对来自年轻、成年和老年非人类灵长类动物（猕猴）的健康和牙周炎部位的牙龈组织中与凋亡途径相关的 88 个基因进行了本体论分析。与年轻动物相比，来自老年动物的健康牙龈组织中抗凋亡基因的表达降低，促凋亡基因的表达升高。在成年和老年动物的健康牙龈组织之间观察到的基因表达差异很少。与健康牙龈组织相比，在牙周炎牙龈组织中，上调或下调的凋亡基因在成年动物和老年动物中有所不同。这些结果表明，正常发生在牙龈组织中的凋亡事件可能在衰老过程中减少，并且凋亡途径的独特方面可能参与了成年和老年牙龈组织中牙周病的病理生理学过程。
