Trends and insights in animal and biomedical research: A 5-year scientometric analysis of orthodontic peer-reviewed journals.

BACKGROUND: Biomedical research plays a critical role in advancing orthodontic innovations by identifying new targets for therapeutic interventions and developing more effective, personalized orthodontic treatment. This study evaluates the major contributors and trends in animal-related orthodontic research over the past 5 years (2017-2023). METHODS: All animal-related studies published in the eight orthodontic journals listed in the 2022 Journal Citation Reports between January 2017 and June 2023 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. After examination, the following bibliometric data were extracted from each article: title, authors, affiliations, geographic origin, year of publication, journal name, and keywords. Multiple bibliometric software packages including Biblioshiny R-package software, Datawrapper, and Datasmith were used to analyze different bibliometric outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 3669 articles were screened from which 266 were selected and included in the analysis. The annual growth rate of production exhibited a decline of 11.18%. Most of the included studies focused on orthodontic tooth movement (32.3%), mainly utilizing rat models (50%). Although the United States accounted for the highest number of publications (n = 236), the trend in funded research showed a decreasing trajectory over time, with notably limited funding from the National Institutes of Health. CONCLUSION: This study reveals a declining trend in overall animal-related orthodontic research, highlighted by a significant decrease in National Institutes of Health funding over time. To address this gap, academic institutions and professional organizations should support initiatives fostering biomedical orthodontic research.

Altering maternal calcium and phosphorus dietary intake induces persistent sex-specific changes in the dentition of the offspring.

BACKGROUND: The maternal diet is essential to offspring development, but the specific effects on tooth morphology are still unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of altering maternal calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) supplementation during gestation and lactation on offspring dentition. METHODS: Pregnant mice were fed an experimental diet containing a threefold increase in Ca and a threefold decrease in P compared to the standard mouse chow diet at embryonic Day 0.5 (E0.5). Offspring mice were maintained on standard or experimental diets from post-natal Day 0 to weaning, then fed control diets until 6 weeks of age. Six-week-old offspring heads were collected and scanned using micro-computed tomography. Dental morphometrics of offspring maxillary and mandibular first and third molars (n = 5-6 per diet/per sex) were determined. A two-way ANOVA test was employed to verify the existence of any significant differences between groups. The significance level was set at P < .05. RESULTS: A two-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant interaction between the effects of diet and sex on the upper and lower dentition. Moreover, experimental diet-fed female offspring exhibited smaller molars with shorter mesiodistal width and larger pulp chambers relative to controls, while experimental diet-fed male offspring possessed larger molars with wider mesiodistal width and smaller pulp chambers. CONCLUSION: Our findings reveal that altering the maternal and offspring dietary Ca:P ratio during gestation, lactation and weaning led to significant, sex-specific changes in the offspring dentition. The differences in dentition appeared to be correlated with the sex-specific changes in the craniofacial skeleton.

The relation between social media mentions and academic citations in orthodontic journals: A preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: To study the relation between social media mentions and academic citations for articles published in peer-reviewed orthodontic journals. METHODS: Articles published in early 2018 in seven peer-reviewed orthodontic journals were retrospectively analyzed in September 2022. Citation counts of the articles were evaluated using two databases: Google Scholar (GS) and Web of Science (WoS). The Altmetric Attention Score, Twitter, Facebook mentions, and Mendeley reads were tracked using the Altmetric Bookmarklet. The citation counts and social media mentions were correlated using Spearman rho. RESULTS: A total of 84 articles were identified during the initial search; 64 (76%) were original studies and systematic review articles and included in the analysis. A total of 38% of the articles had at least one mention on social media. Over the study period, the average number of citations of the articles mentioned on social media was higher than the non-mentioned articles for GS and WoS, respectively. Moreover, significant positive correlations existed between the Altmetric Attention Score and the number of citations in GS and WoS (rs = 0.31, P = 0.001 and rs = 0.26, P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Social media mentions and citations of articles published in peer-reviewed orthodontic journals are correlated, with a clear difference in the number of citations in articles mentioned on social media versus those not mentioned, indicating possible increased reach of articles disseminated on social media.

Unraveling the molecular principles by which ceramides commit cells to death.

Ceramides are central intermediates of sphingolipid metabolism that can activate a variety of tumor suppressive cellular programs, including cell cycle arrest, senescence and apoptosis. Indeed, perturbations in ceramide generation and turnover are frequently linked to cancer cell survival and resistance to chemotherapy. Consequently, the potential of ceramide-based therapeutics in the treatment of cancer has become a major focus of interest. A growing body of evidence indicates that ceramides can act directly on mitochondria to trigger apoptotic cell death. However, molecular details of the underlying mechanism are scarce. In our recent study (Dadsena S et al., 2019, Nat Commun 10:1832), we used a photoactivatable ceramide probe combined with computer simulations and functional studies to identify the voltage-dependent anion channel VDAC2 as a critical effector of ceramide-induced mitochondrial apoptosis. Collectively, our findings provide a novel molecular framework for how ceramides execute their widely acclaimed anti-neoplastic activities.

Ceramides bind VDAC2 to trigger mitochondrial apoptosis.

Ceramides draw wide attention as tumor suppressor lipids that act directly on mitochondria to trigger apoptotic cell death. However, molecular details of the underlying mechanism are largely unknown. Using a photoactivatable ceramide probe, we here identify the voltage-dependent anion channels VDAC1 and VDAC2 as mitochondrial ceramide binding proteins. Coarse-grain molecular dynamics simulations reveal that both channels harbor a ceramide binding site on one side of the barrel wall. This site includes a membrane-buried glutamate that mediates direct contact with the ceramide head group. Substitution or chemical modification of this residue abolishes photolabeling of both channels with the ceramide probe. Unlike VDAC1 removal, loss of VDAC2 or replacing its membrane-facing glutamate with glutamine renders human colon cancer cells largely resistant to ceramide-induced apoptosis. Collectively, our data support a role of VDAC2 as direct effector of ceramide-mediated cell death, providing a molecular framework for how ceramides exert their anti-neoplastic activity.

A search for ceramide binding proteins using bifunctional lipid analogs yields CERT-related protein StarD7.

Ceramides are central intermediates of sphingolipid metabolism with dual roles as mediators of cellular stress signaling and mitochondrial apoptosis. How ceramides exert their cytotoxic effects is unclear and their poor solubility in water hampers a search for specific protein interaction partners. Here, we report the application of a photoactivatable and clickable ceramide analog, pacCer, to identify ceramide binding proteins and unravel the structural basis by which these proteins recognize ceramide. Besides capturing ceramide transfer protein (CERT) from a complex proteome, our approach yielded CERT-related steroidogenic acute regulatory protein D7 (StarD7) as novel ceramide binding protein. Previous work revealed that StarD7 is required for efficient mitochondrial import of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and serves a critical role in mitochondrial function and morphology. Combining site-directed mutagenesis and photoaffinity labeling experiments, we demonstrate that the steroidogenic acute regulatory transfer domain of StarD7 harbors a common binding site for PC and ceramide. While StarD7 lacks robust ceramide transfer activity in vitro, we find that its ability to shuttle PC between model membranes is specifically affected by ceramides. Besides demonstrating the suitability of pacCer as a tool to hunt for ceramide binding proteins, our data point at StarD7 as a candidate effector protein by which ceramides may exert part of their mitochondria-mediated cytotoxic effects.