[A study of fluoride and dexamethasone affecting the expression of growth factors in osteoblast].
OBJECTIVE
Investigate the expression of growth factors or receptors in osteoblast, to understand the possible mechanism of low dose fluoride and dexamethasone on the development and differentiation of osteoblast.


METHODS
Investigate the expression of platelet derived growth factors (PDGF-A) and insulin-like growth factors (IGF-I-Ralpha) in osteoblast cultured in vitro by immunohistochemistry, furthermore, to deal with the results by image analysis.


RESULTS
There were no significant effects of PDGF-A both of low doses fluoride and dexamethasone treated on the MC3T3-E1 osteoblast during the various stages of the development. Otherwise, the expression of IGF-I-Ralpha might increase treated with them at the early stage of the cell culture, and dexamethasone did more significantly.


CONCLUSIONS
Low doses of fluoride or dexamethasone may promote the expression of IGF-I-Ralpha in osteoblast precursors, which maybe contribute to the effects of fluoride and dexamethasone on the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast.
Department of Oral Medicine, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Stomatology, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai 200011,China.
L H
LH
Ge
W G
WG
Zhang
R
R
Shu