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Browsing by Author "Batarseh, Ghada"
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Item Effects of Tobacco Components on Streptococcus mutans and the Role of S. mutans in Apoptotic Cell Death through Macrophage Interactions(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2014-04-11) Cavazos, Ana; Batarseh, Ghada; Windsor, L. Jack; Gregory, Richard L.Cigarettes have thousands of components aside from tobacco and nicotine that are harmful to the smoker’s body. Smoking is considered a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and periodontal disease. One of the aims of this study is to determine the effect of different tobacco components on the growth of S. mutans. S. mutans is an oral bacteria found in most humans that is considered to be the causative agent for dental caries. S. mutans can potentially lead to the inflammation of the heart and arteries which can turn to atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a complex inflammatory disease and is the leading cause of death in the United States. Inflammation is the main concern as it has a key role in the development of atherosclerosis. Irritation can be caused by the relationship of bacteria like S. mutans with macrophages and other white blood cells defending against foreign pathogens. The main focus of the research in this specific project is to establish how macrophage interactions with S. mutans are causing apoptosis in the endothelial cells lining the arteries and veins. Apoptosis is programmed, energy-dependent cell death that causes cells to shrink with no loss of the membrane integrity. The long term goal of this study is to determine if smokers are at higher risk of being diagnosed with atherosclerosis in correlation to S. mutans and tobacco components. Apoptosis is studied by the determination of apoptotic mediator levels. Apoptotic mediators allow for the measurement of cell death. This allows for the configuration of the data presented.Item Tegdma induction of apoptotic proteins in pulp fibroblasts(2011) Batarseh, Ghada; Gregson, Karen; Windsor, L. Jack; Cochran, Michael A. (Michael Alan), 1944-; Platt, Jeffrey A., 1958-; Vail, Mychel Marapagal, 1969-; Cook, Norman Blaine, 1954-Monomers like triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) leach from dental composites and adhesives due to incomplete polymerization or polymer degradation. The release of these monomers causes a variety of reactions that can lead to cell death. This death can be either necrotic, which is characterized mainly by inflammation and injury to the surrounding tissues, or apoptotic, which elicits little inflammatory responses, if any at all. TEGDMA-induced apoptosis in human pulp has been reported recently. However, the molecular mechanisms and the apoptotic (pro and anti) proteins involved in this process remain unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the apoptotic proteins expressed or suppressed during TEGDMA-induced apoptosis. Human pulp fibroblasts (HPFs) were incubated for 24 hours with different TEGDMA concentrations (0.125-1.0 mM). Cytotoxicity was determined using the cytotoxicity Detection KitPLUS (Roche Applied Science, Mannheim, Germany). TEGDMA was shown to cause cell cytotoxicity at concentrations of 0.50 mM and up. The highest concentration with no significant cytotoxicity was used. Cells were incubated with or without 0.25 mM TEGDMA for 6 h and 24 h. Cell lysates were then prepared and the protein concentrations determined using the Bradford protein assay. A Human Apoptosis Array kit (Bio-Rad Hercules, CA ) was utilized to detect the relative levels of 43 apoptotic proteins. The results of this study showed statistically significant increases of multiple examined pro-apoptotic proteins. The anti-apoptotic proteins were also altered. Pro-apoptotic proteins involved in the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways were increased significantly. The results indicated that TEGDMA has effects on both the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways.