PER2 regulates odontoblastic differentiation of dental papilla cells in vitro via intracellular ATP content and reactive oxygen species levels

Dental papilla cells (DPCs) are one of the key stem cells for tooth development, eventually forming dentin and pulp. Previous studies have reported that PER2 is expressed in a 24-hour oscillatory pattern in DPCs . , PER2 is highly expressed in odontoblasts (which are differentiated from DPCs). However, whether PER2 modulates the odontogenic differentiation of DPCs is uncertain. This research was to identify the function of PER2 in the odontogenic differentiation of DPCs and preliminarily explore its mechanisms. We monitored the expression of PER2 in DPCs differentiated . We used PER2 overexpression and knockdown studies to assess the role of PER2 in DPC differentiation and performed intracellular ATP content and reactive oxygen species (ROS) assays to further investigate the mechanism. PER2 expression was considerably elevated throughout the odontoblastic differentiation of DPCs . Overexpressing boosted levels of odontogenic differentiation markers, such as dentin sialophosphoprotein ( ), dentin matrix protein 1 ( ), and alkaline phosphatase ( ), and enhanced mineralized nodule formation in DPCs. Conversely, the downregulation of inhibited the differentiation of DPCs. Additionally, downregulating further affected intracellular ATP content and ROS levels during DPC differentiation. Overall, we demonstrated that PER2 positively regulates the odontogenic differentiation of DPCs, and the mechanism may be related to mitochondrial function as shown by intracellular ATP content and ROS levels.