2023 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 197-202
In organs, multiple functionally differentiated cells and stem cells are organized to express specific functions through a series of complex interactions. The Wnt signaling pathway is deeply involved in these processes throughout life. The dependence of Wnt signaling on spatiotemporal specificity and the changes in vivo interactions caused by the balance and distribution of Wnt ligands and antagonists. Regeneration is thought to involve reconstitution of the growth mechanism, and thus control of stem cells and tissue regeneration has been attempted by mimicking canonical Wnt signals. Wnt10a has been reported to be involved in tooth development and regeneration. These findings indicate the importance of understanding and reproducing involvement of Wnt10a in dental pulp regeneration for development of regenerative dental treatment. Accordingly, we examined the spatiotemporal specificity of Wnt signals involved in dental pulp regeneration by morphologically examining changes in Wnt signals over time in regenerated dental pulp using ectopic tooth root implantation. Expression levels of Wnt10a and DKK1 in regenerated dental pulp suggest that Wnt expression does not increase continuously with time as regeneration increases, which reflects the spatiotemporal specificity of Wnt. In addition, the Dkk1 expression kinetics had a phase shift relative to those of Wnt10a: Dkk1 expression was low when that of Wnt10a was high, and Wnt10a expression decreased when Dkk1 expression increased. These results suggest that canonical Wnt signals have an elaborate control mechanism in regenerated pulp, as suggested in previous reports. Moreover, Wnt reflects the percentage of regenerated pulp. Therefore Wnt is a potential biomarker of pulp regeneration.