Little is known about the biological effects of ultrasound on dental-derived cells and whether ultrasound may be used as a therapeutic tool in dental care. This thesis has investigated the functional responses of in vitro osteoblast and odontoblast model cell lines to low frequency ultrasound as a potential tool for dental tissue repair. Two methods for ultrasound delivery were used to stimulate cells in vitro; a dental ultrasonic scaler (EMS) capable of emitting ultrasound at a frequency of 30kHz; and the DuoSon (SRA developments) therapeutic ultrasound exposure system, which allowed the comparison of kHz, MHz and a combined frequency ultrasound. Odontoblast-like cells positively responded to all ultrasound frequencies applied and can increase VEGF expression, increase cell number and increase mineral deposition by enhancing differentiation when compared with sham-treated control. Furthermore, enhanced wound healing by increased cell migration and cell proliferation was demonstrated in ultrasound-stimulated osteoblast-like cells. Ultrasound induced a dose-dependent response in β-catenin staining in both odontoblast and osteoblast model cell lines, which implicates the Wnt/β-catenin pathway as a possible mechanism for intracellular ultrasound transduction. Taken together, it is tempting to speculate that direct low frequency ultrasound stimulation of the dentine-pulp complex or alveolar bone may be able to initiate or enhance regenerative events
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:540525 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Man, Jennifer Sui-Sum |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/2878/ |
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