Differences in adhesion and collagen gel contraction between fibroblasts from various types of odontogenic cyst

Fibroblasts were grown from explants of normal gingiva and foreskin, and from walls of dentigerous, radicular and residual cysts, as well as keratocysts of basal-cell naevus syndrome and non-syndrome origin. Dentigerous-cyst fibroblast adhesion to poly-L-lysine-coated glass was unaffected by all adhesion-related glycoproteins. Chondroitin sulphate, fibronectin and heparan sulphate enhanced attachment of all other fibroblasts. Chondroitin-sulphate and fibronectin-enhanced adhesion was blocked by an arg-gly-asp peptide. Fibronectin, chondroitin sulphate and laminin all promoted collagen lattice contraction using normal gingival fibroblasts and low-serum media. Fibronectin had a greater effect than chondroitin sulphate and laminin. In media with standard serum, all cyst fibroblast lines examined demonstrated similar gel contraction curves with the exception of dentigerous cyst-derived fibroblasts, which contracted at decreased rates. Suppression of gel contraction was seen with dentigerous-cyst fibroblasts with all extracellular matrix glycoproteins and low serum. Dentigerous-cyst fibroblast attachment to glass and behaviour in gel lattices suggest that these cells express different functional attachment factors from other cyst fibroblast types.