In vivo real-time assessment of developmental defects in enamel of anti-Act1 mice using optical coherence tomography

Sujuan Zeng; Yuejun Wu; Lijing Wang; Yuhang Huang; Wenyan Huang; Ziling Li; Weijian Gao; Siqing Jiang; Lihong Ge; Jian Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16545

In vivo real-time assessment of developmental defects in enamel of anti-Act1 mice using optical coherence tomography

Heliyon. 2023 May 22;9(6):e16545. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16545. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Sujuan Zeng¹, Yuejun Wu¹, Lijing Wang², Yuhang Huang¹, Wenyan Huang¹, Ziling Li¹, Weijian Gao³, Siqing Jiang⁴, Lihong Ge^{1

5}, Jian Zhang^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pedodontics, Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangdong Engineering Research Center of Oral Restoration and Reconstruction, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Basic and Applied Research of Oral Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou, 510182, China.
² Vascular Biology Research Institute, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
³ School of Biomedical Engineering, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Qingyuan People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 511436, China.
⁴ Department of Temporomandibular Joint, Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Basic and Applied Research of Oral Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou, 510182, China.
⁵ Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Stomatology Hospital of Peking University, Beijing, 100081, China.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of using optical coherence tomography (OCT) for real-time and quantitative monitoring of enamel development in gene-edited enamel defect mice. NF-κB activator 1, known as Act1, is associated with many inflammatory diseases. The antisense oligonucleotide of Act1 was inserted after the CD68 gene promoter, which would cover the start region of the Act1 gene and inhibit its transcription. Anti-Act1 mice, gene-edited mice, were successfully constructed and demonstrated amelogenesis imperfecta by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Wild-type (WT) mice were used as the control group in this study. WT mice and anti-Act1 mice at 3 weeks old were examined by OCT every week and killed at eight weeks old. Their mandibular bones were dissected and examined by OCT, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), and SEM. OCT images showed that the outer layer of enamel of anti-Act1 mice was obviously thinner than that of WT mice but no difference in total thickness. When assessing enamel thickness, there was a significant normal linear correlation between these methods. OCT could scan the imperfect developed enamel noninvasively and quickly, providing images of the enamel layers of mouse incisors.

Keywords: Enamel defect; Enamel development; OCT.