Adipokines in dental pulp: Physiological, pathological, and potential therapeutic roles.

José Luis Álvarez-Vásquez, María Isabel Bravo-Guapisaca, Jonathan Francisco Gavidia-Pazmiño, Ruth Viviana Intriago-Morales

Journal of oral biosciences 2022 Mar

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Hundreds of adipokines have been identified, and their extensive range of endocrine functions-regulating distant organs such as oral tissues-and local autocrine/paracrine roles have been studied. In dentistry, however, adipokines are poorly known proteins in the dental pulp; few of them have been studied despite their large number. This study reviews recent advances in the investigation of dental-pulp adipokines, with an emphasis on their roles in inflammatory processes and their potential therapeutic applications. The most recently identified adipokines in dental pulp include leptin, adiponectin, resistin, ghrelin, oncostatin, chemerin, and visfatin. They have numerous physiological and pathological functions in the pulp tissue: they are closely related to pulp inflammatory mechanisms and actively participate in cell differentiation, mineralization, angiogenesis, and immune-system modulation. Adipokines have potential clinical applications in regenerative endodontics and as biomarkers or targets for the pharmacological management of inflammatory and degenerative processes in dental pulp. A promising direction for the development of new therapies may be the use of agonists/antagonists to modulate the expression of the most studied adipokines. Copyright © 2021 Japanese Association for Oral Biology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

José Luis Álvarez-Vásquez, María Isabel Bravo-Guapisaca, Jonathan Francisco Gavidia-Pazmiño, Ruth Viviana Intriago-Morales. Adipokines in dental pulp: Physiological, pathological, and potential therapeutic roles. Journal of oral biosciences. 2022 Mar;64(1):59-70