title: Breaking biological barriers with a toothbrush.
abstract: Toothbrushing exposes epithelia and other tissues of the oral cavity to mechanical stress. Here, we investigated whether brushing induces cell wounding--plasma membrane disruption--in epithelial and other cell types in the oral cavity. Brushing of the gingivae and tongues of rats resulted in a striking increase in the number of cells positive for a marker of disruption injury. These cells included those in all strata of the gingival epithelium, and in the skeletal muscle of the tongue. Additionally, we found that brushing resulted in an increase in c-fos expression by junctional epithelial and skeletal muscle cells. Epithelial barrier function, however, was not overtly affected by brushing, despite the observed individual injuries to cells. We concluded that brushing disrupts cell plasma membrane barriers in the oral cavity and activates gene expression events that may lead to local adaptive changes in tissue architecture beneficial to gingival health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912-2000, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Amano
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Borke
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: McNeil
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000473:pathology; D004846:Epithelial Attachment / Q000166:cytology / Q000293:injuries* / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015870:Gene Expression; D005881:Gingiva / Q000166:cytology / Q000293:injuries*; D008297:Male; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014059:Tongue / Q000166:cytology / Q000293:injuries*; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos