SCCs in gingivae may protect against periodontitis

Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre, a nonprofit independent scientific institute, and scientists from Sichuan University in Chengdu in China, have undertaken a study examining the gingivae of mice which has indicated that molecular pathways in periodontal solitary chemosensory cells (SSCs) are involved in the regulation of oral microbiota. When gustducin and/or SCCs were genetically removed from the mice’s gingivae, pathogenic oral bacteria often quickly grew, leading to periodontitis. The stimulation of the bitter taste receptors in SCCs however seemed to encourage the production of antimicrobial molecules. On the whole, mice without gustducin in their SCCs were found to have a more harmful oral microbiome than those with gustducin present, and more importantly the differences were identified prior to the loss of any periodontal bone. The research team suggests periodontal SCCs in humans may play a similar regulatory role in regard to our own oral microbiomes.
Dr. Marco Tizzano, a researcher at Monell Chemical Senses Centre and co-author of the study, said: “Our study adds to a growing list of tissues we now know contain SCCs and indicates that the common molecular pathways in gum SCCs are involved in the regulation of oral microbiota. In the absence of taste signalling in the gums, the oral microbiome changed in mice without gustducin.”