Downregulation of oxytocin-related genes in periodontitis.

Periodontitis is a common oral disorder leading to tooth loss in both developed and developing regions of the world. This multifactorial condition is related to the abnormal activity of several molecular pathways, among them are oxytocin-related pathways. In this study, we enrolled 26 patients and 28 controls and assessed the expression of four oxytocin-related genes, namely, , , , and , in circulation and affected tissues of enrolled individuals using real-time PCR. Expression of was downregulated in total periodontitis tissues compared with total control tissues [ratio of mean expression (RME) = 0.23, -value = 0.03]. Expression of was also lower in total blood samples of patients compared with total controls. Expression of was downregulated in total periodontitis tissues compared with total control tissues (RME = 0.16, -value = 0.01). Moreover, the expression of was reduced in total blood samples of patients compared with controls (RME = 0.25, -value = 0.03). Expression of was downregulated in total periodontitis tissues compared with total control tissues (RME = 0.17, -value = 0.01). However, the expression of was not different in blood samples of affected vs. unaffected individuals. Finally, the expression of was lower in total periodontitis tissues compared with total control tissues (RME = 0.24, -value = 0.01) and in total blood samples of affected individuals compared with controls (RME = 0.42, -value = 0.05). This study provides data about the association between expressions of oxytocin-related genes and the presence of periodontitis. Future studies are needed to unravel the mechanistic links and find the correlation between expressions of these genes and the pathological stage of periodontitis.