Gene expression of growth factors with angiogenic potential in human dental pulp tissue from teeth with complete and incomplete root development

Aim To quantify the expression of angiogenic growth factors (ANG2, VEGFA, TGF ss 1) and their corresponding receptors (VEGFR1, VGFR2, NRP1 and TGF ss R1) in human dental pulps from extracted third molars with complete and incomplete root development. Methodology Fifty-six dental pulp samples obtained from freshly extracted human third molars were divided equally into two groups according to their stage of root development; 28 third molars with complete root development and 28 third molars with incomplete root development. All samples were processed and total RNA was extracted, cDNA was then synthetized for each sample and the target genes expression profiles for ANG2, VEGFA, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, NRP1, TGF ss 1 and TGF ss R1 were obtained by RT2-PCR. The data was analysed with a Student's t-test to compare the replicate increment increment C-t values for each gene. Results Teeth with incomplete root development were associated with a significantly greater gene expression of TGF beta R1 (P = 0.03), whereas in teeth with complete root development the genes that had significantly greater expression were VEGFA (P = 0.04). Conclusion The angiogenic growth factors (ANG2, VEGFA, TGF beta 1) and their receptors (NRP1, VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and TGF ss R1) were expressed in pulps of teeth with complete and incomplete root development measured by RT2-PCR, with TGFBR1 genes being significantly different in teeth with incomplete root development and VEGFA genes in teeth with complete root development.