Breaking the Dry Spell: Pusan National University Researchers Uncover the Hidden Cause of Postmenopausal Dry Mouth, Paving the Way for New Treatments

(Busan = Yonhap News) Reporter Soo-hee Oh = Pusan ​​National University announced on the 4th that the research team of Professor Hyeong-sik Kim of the Graduate School of Dentistry and Professor Byeong-joo Lee of the Department of Otolaryngology at the College of Medicine has discovered the cause of postmenopausal dry mouth and proposed a new treatment possibility to control it. .

The research team found that as ‘transforming growth factor – beta 2’ increases in salivary gland tissue after menopause, the intracellular balance of iron ions is disrupted and acinar cells responsible for saliva production die by ferroptosis, an iron-dependent cell death method. found that

Dry mouth is a disease caused by decreased salivary gland function, and is reported to have a particularly high prevalence in postmenopausal women.

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In order to propose a fundamental prevention and treatment technology for dry mouth, the research team identified iron-dependent cell death as the main cause of salivary gland damage and made a new attempt to control it.

The research team found that salivary gland function was reduced in a mouse model that had undergone ovariectomy, and that transforming growth factor-beta 2 signaling and ferroptosis, an iron-dependent cell death, were activated within the salivary gland tissue.

In addition, to embody the activation mechanism discovered in the animal model, salivary gland organoids of mice and humans were produced, and transforming growth factor – beta 2 disrupts the storage and reuse mechanism of intracellular iron ions in salivary gland epithelial cells, leading to ferroptosis. It has been proven that it induces cell death by .

Ultimately, the research team confirmed through animal experiments that ferroptosis inhibitors can be effective in preventing dry mouth.

It was confirmed that the administration of ferroptosis inhibitors preserved both the decreased salivary secretion volume of the salivary glands and the distribution area of ​​acinar cells after ovarian resection.

Professor Kim Hyeong-sik said, “Through the results of this menopausal dry mouth study, clues to solving geriatric dry mouth are beginning to appear, and we plan to confirm whether the mechanisms discovered through follow-up research are commonly observed in general geriatric dry mouth.”

osh9981@yna.co.kr

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2024/11/04 09:08 Sent