[Effect of age on mineralization expression of periodontal ligament cell clones]

To evaluate the effect of age on the expression of mineralized tissue progenitors in the peridontium and the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).

The periodontal ligament (PDL) tissues that derived from three old and 4 young donors were cultured and cells were cloned. The mineralizing ability were detected with or without bFGF treatment in the presence of dexamethasone. The cell cloning technic was employed in present study.

The results indicated that the frequency of mineralized tissue progenitors (old donor: 4.1%) and the numbers of cell clones that mineralized with bFGF treated in the PDL cultures derived from old donors (3.4%) is considerably less than that of cultures obtained from young donors (17.7% and 16.9%). bFGF enhanced the mineralization of cell clone but not the parent population.

It is concluded that the poor stem cell and progenitors in PDL and the low reaction of progenitors to growth factors in PDL are responsible for the limited regenerative capacity of periodontium in old patient.