J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2023, Vol. 168: 24-34.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2023.04.077

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Wireless electrical stimulation generated by piezoelectric nanomaterial promotes the dental pulp regeneration via regulating mitochondrial Ca2+/PKA signaling pathway

Jianmao Zhenga,1,*, Jiyuan Zuoa,1, Cairong Xiaob,1, Qining Guoa, Xiaobin Fua, Chengyun Ningb, Peng Yub,*   

  1. aGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Hospital of Stomatology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China;
    bSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
  • Received:2023-01-23 Revised:2023-04-16 Accepted:2023-04-28 Published:2024-01-01 Online:2023-12-25
  • Contact: *E-mail addresses: zhengjm25@mail.sysu.edu.cn (J. Zheng), imyup@scut.edu.cn (P. Yu)
  • About author:1These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: The induction of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) into odontogenic differentiation is a cutting-edge method of dental pulp regeneration treatment. However, it remains a challenge to develop biomaterials and therapies that can induce odontogenic differentiation. Here, we propose a wireless electrical stimulation strategy to induce DPSCs odontogenic differentiation via K0.5Na0.5NbO3 piezoelectric nanoparticles (KNN) and polarized KNN (PKNN), which can be endocytosed by DPSCs. In vitro, several odontogenic differentiation indexes were also increased in DPSCs treated with KNN and PKNN, and the increase was more obvious in the PKNN group. Intracellular wireless electrical field promoted mitochondrial calcium concentration via mitochondrial calcium unidirectional transporter (MCU), increased the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and induced odontogenic differentiation through the activation of the cAMP-PKA signaling pathway. In vivo, dental pulp-like tissue was induced by electrical stimulation wirelessly with KNN and PKNN, which was more clinically friendly compared with the wired device, and the induction was more obvious in the PKNN group consistent with in vitro experiments. In conclusion, this work demonstrates the potential of PKNN as an effective stimulus that can induce odontogenic differentiation of DPSCs and be applied to dental pulp regeneration treatment.

Key words: Piezoelectric nanoparticles, Dental pulp stem cells, Odontogenic differentiation