Development of the Dentin Regeneration Therapy

In the concept of minimal intervention (MI), it is an urgent necessity for us to develop the new therapy of pulp capping and hard tissue regeneration. Recent studies showed the therapy using Ca(OH)2, or/and adhesive resins or some antibiotics mixture. In this study, to develop the new method of biological pulp capping, we used Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF). To elucidate the ability of CTGF for cell proliferation and tissue mineralization, we immunohistologically analyzed the expression of osteonectin. Normal human pulp cells were stimulated by CTGF in culture medium for several hours, and analyzed the expression of osteonectin by immunohistochemical staining. Osteonectin, which is one of extra celluler matrix proteins and indicators of tissue mineralization, was expressed 96 hours after stimulation of CTGF. These results showed that CTGF is extremely useful for the establishment of the biological dentin regeneration therapy.