Effects of Porphyromonas gingivalis extracellular vesicles on human periodontal ligament fibroblasts.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influencing mechanism of Porphyromonas gingivalis extracellular vesicles on human periodontal ligament fibroblasts to better understand the pathogenesis of periodontitis, the major cause of adult tooth loss. Human periodontal ligament fibroblasts were cultured and randomly assigned to a control group and an extracellular vesicles (ECV) group. The ECV group was exposed to isolated Porphyromonas gingivalis extracellular vesicles; the control group was not exposed. Western blotting was used to detect expression of matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), and RT-PCR was used to detect mRNA expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP). When human periodontal ligament fibroblasts were processed by Porphyromonas gingivalis extracellular vesicles (ECV), protein expression levels of both MMP-1 and TIMP-1 were significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). In contrast, ALP mRNA expression in human periodontal ligament fibroblasts processed by ECV was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). Porphyromonas gingivalis extracellular vesicles can up-regulate expression of MMP-1 and TIMP-1 protein and ALP mRNA of human periodontal fibroblasts.