Autophagy Regulates Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells Induced by Orthodontic Tension

Tooth movement is the core of orthodontics. Osteogenesis of the tension side under orthodontic force has great significance on tooth movement and stability, which involves complex mechanical and biological signal transduction. However, the mechanism remains unclear. Through in vitro cell studies, we observed the increased expression levels of osteogenesis-related factors and autophagy-related factors during the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells induced by orthodontic force. The change trend of autophagy-related factors and osteogenesis-related factors is similar, which indicates the involvement of autophagy in osteogenesis. In the study of autophagy-related gene ATG7 silenced cells, the expression level of autophagy was significantly inhibited, and the expression level of osteogenesis-related factors also decreased accordingly. Through drug regulation, we observed that the increase of autophagy level could effectively promote osteogenic differentiation, while the decrease of the autophagy level inhibited this process to some extent. Therefore, autophagy plays an important role in the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells induced by orthodontic force, which provides a novel idea useful for orthodontic treatment in promoting periodontal tissue remodeling and accelerating tooth movement.