Gingival fibroblasts (GF) are the most abundant cell type in periodontal connective tissues, andhave distinct functional activities in the repair of periodontal tissues and in inflammatory periodontal diseases. Human gingival fibroblasts (hGF) can be used for periodontal tissue engineering. This study examined whether the alkaline phosphatase of hGF is enhanced by recombinant human BMP-4 and/or Anti human BMP-4 antibody. hGF was obtained from the excised gingival tissue of an implant patient undergoing 2nd surgery. The tissue was incubated at 37℃ in 5% CO2 and 95% humidity, and the cultivating media was changed every 2 days. The 2nd passage hGF cells were cultured in a medium containing Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1 X antibiotic antimycotic solution. The control hGF was cultured for 7 days without rhBMP-4/Anti human BMP-4 antibody. The experimental groups were cultured for 7 with BMP-4 (10 ng/ml) and/or Anti human BMP-4 antibody. This study evaluated the differentiation of hGF to osteoblasts using alkaline phosphatase assay. In the experimental groups, the hGF showed abundant positive ALP staining. Among the experimental groups, the experimental group 3 (mixture of rhBMP-4 (20ng/㎖) and Anti human BMP-4 antibody (50000ng/㎖) showed most abundant positive ALP staining. In the control group, the hGF showed weak positive ALP staining. Overall, these results suggest that the ALP expression of hGF can enhanced by rhBMP-4 or mixture of rhBMP-4/ anti human BMP-4 antibody.

The purpose of this study is to introduce a rural development project utilized Participatory Rural Appraisal(PRA), which has been widely developed and applied as an approach and methods for participatory rural development since 1990’s. In the ODA project titled as “Happiness Program”, a comprehensive community development program designed and conducted by KOICA for underprivileged ethnic minorities in Lao Cai province, Vietnam, the villagers were able to analyse the realities of their situations, to plan, to act, and to monitor and evaluate their actions for improvement through all the processes of PRA utilization. Apart from the successful implementation of participatory rural development activities, this project also made a contribution to extending our knowledge about PRA by presenting the monitoring and evaluation system built for the project and the impact analyzed by the system such as increase in villagers’ annual income, expansion of infrastructure, capacity development and etc.