Abstract
Cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) is the particulate matter of cigarette smoke. Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is an opportunistic pathogen involved in periodontitis. It was hypothesized that the combination of CSC and P. gingivalis would increase the collagen-degrading ability of human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs). In this study, HGFs were exposed to CSC, P. gingivalis supernatant, and CSC plus P. gingivalis supernatant. The collagen-degrading ability and protein/mRNA levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) of HGFs were examined. The combined treatment increased collagen degradation, protein levels of active forms of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-14 in conditioned media, and the low-molecular-weight fragment of MMP-14 in membrane extracts, as well as mRNA levels of MMP-1, MMP-2, and MMP-14. In conclusion, the combined effects of CSC and P. gingivalis increased HGF-mediated collagen degradation by destroying the balance between MMPs and TIMPs at multiple levels.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
