Effects of Melatonin on MDPC-23 Cells Differentiation

Park, Joo Cheol; Shin, In Cheol; Lee, Dong Seol; Yoon, Seong Ho; Yang, Jae Ho; Kim, Sang Bong; Kim, Heung Joong

Abstract

Melatonin is the major hormone released from the pineal gland and regulates a variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes. According to the recent studies the melatonin plays an important role in regulation of bone growth. The purpose of this study was to determine whether melatonin promotes the cell differentiation and nodules formation in MDPC-23 pre-odontoblast cell line. MDPC-23 cells were cultured for up to 15 days in growth media containing differentiation medium with melatonin or without melatonin. Cultures were stained with Alizarin-S. The expression of the mRNAs for DSPP, OC, ALP and NFI-C were analyzed by RT-PCR. The results were as follows. Cultures containing melatonin at day 15 showed extensive mineralization as compared with control cultures. Melatonin increased the expression of DSPP and OC mRNAs in MDPC-23 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. However, melatonin did not changed ALP expression. Melatonin markedly decreased mRNA expression of NFI-C in early stage cultures as compared with control cultures. These results demonstrated that melatonin is capable of promoting MDPC-23 cells differentiation and mineralization and suggested that melatonin may play an important role in dentin formation.