SEM analysis of oral lichen planus before and after treatment with 13 cis-retinoic acid.

Cancer of the oral cavity is a frequent worldwide neoplasia, averaging 4% in men and 2% in women. Cancer of the oral cavity is often preceded by particular epithelial lesions, called precancerous lesions. The aim of this study is to evaluate, by SEM microscope analysis, before and after treatment with 0.1% 13-cis-retinoic, the morphostructural variation of the surface of the oral mucous affected by lichen planus in respect to healthy oral mucous. Following topical therapy with 0.1% 13-cis-retinoic acid for 8 weeks, a restoration of the physiological morphostructure was observed by SEM, demonstrating the efficaciousness of the treatment and the SEM analysis for identifying the lesions of oral epithelium.

Dentin sialophosphoprotein expression during human matrix development.

Dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) is a phosphorylated parent protein that is cleaved post-translationally into three dentin components: dentin sialoprotein, dentin glycoprotein, and dentin phosphoprotein. In this study we evaluated the dentin sialophosphoprotein expression in human tooth germs to determine its role in tooth development and matrix deposition. DSPP gene expression was investigated performing reverse-transcription polymerase chain-reaction (RT-PCR) and a microarray analysis carried out using high density array containing 21.329 transcripts in replicates. To test for the expression of the DSPP protein, were performed western immunoblot and immunohistochemical analysis during different phases of tissues and matrix formation. All the analysis performed showed high expression level of DSPP in human tooth germs indicating that it may play an essential role for physiological and pathological events in tooth development.