Cementum is a hard connective tissue, produced by cementoblasts during tooth root formation, which provides for the attachment of the periodontal ligament to the roots and surrounding alveolar bone. Establishment of this attachment is an important event in the regeneration of lost periodontal tissues. We examined whether or not odontoblast conditioned media(CM) have a regulatory influence on the differentiation and mineralization of cementoblasts(murine cementoblastic cell line, OCCM-30) in vitro. To identify the effect of odontoblast conditioned media and dentin non collagenous proteins (dNCPs) on cementoblast differentiation and mineralization, we treated CM and dNCPs to cementoblast then differentiated the cells for 14 days. To evaluate the formation of mineralized nodules alizarin-red S staining was performed at 0,4,7 and 14 days. Expression of cementum matrix genes was measured by RT-PCR. Mineralization of cementoblasts was accelerated with CM from odontoblastic MDPC-23 and OD-11. The expression of BSP, ALP, and OC mRNA in cementoblastic OCCM-30 cells was facilitated by the MDPC-23 and OD-11 cells. The extracted dNCPs had little influence on the proliferation, cell cycle modification, and chemotaxis of OCCM-30 cells. Although the dNCPs did not exhibit chemotactic activities for cementoblasts, the dNCPs promoted the differentiation and mineralization of cementoblasts. In conclusion, the dentin matrix protein, or the secreted products of odontoblast, facilitates cementoblast differentiation and mineralization. This represents a new approach and suggests another avenue for cementum regeneration.

Nuclear factor I-C (NFI-C) null mice demonstrated aberrant odontoblast differentiation, abnormal dentin formation, and thus molar lacking roots. However, the mechanism by which the disruption of NFI-C gene affect the expression of other genes in dental pulp cells remains unknown. In this study, in order to understand this mechanism, the gene expression of pulp cells in NFI-C deficient mice were compared to those of wild-type mice by cDNA microarray analysis. According to the cDNA microarray profile comparison, the disruption of NFI-C gene increased the expression of TGF-β and TGF-β receptor, whereas it decreased the expression of Smad proteins. Interestingly, most of the FGF-related genes were down-regulated in pulp cells by NFI-C gene disruption. Among the cell cycle-related genes, the expression of p16 and p18 were increased by NFI-C disruption, but the expression of cy clin E1 and cy clin D1 were decreased by NFI-C disruption. These results indicate that the disturbance of NFI-C gene suppressed the proliferation of pulp cells and up-regulated the expression of TGF-β and its downstream signaling molecules during root formation, contributing to the formation of short root containing abnormal dentin.