2005 Volume No 10 pages 70-77
|  Title: Effects of ultrasound on Transforming Growth Factor-beta 
                    genes in bone cells | 
|  Authors:  J Harle, F Mayia, I Olsen, V Salih | 
|  Address:  Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Eastman 
                    Dental Institute, University College London, 256 Gray's Inn 
                    Road, London, WC1X 8LD, UK | 
| E-mail: v.salih at eastman.ucl.ac.uk | 
|  Key Words: Ultrasound, Bone, Cells, Culture, Genes, Polymerase 
                    chain reaction, Biophysical stimuli, Mechanisms, Acoustics, 
                    Non-invasive technique | 
| Publication date: December 5th 2005 | 
| Abstract: Therapeutic ultrasound (US) is a widely used form of biophysical stimulation that is increasingly applied to promote fracture healing. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), which is encoded by three related but different genes, is known to play a major part in bone growth and repair. However, the effects of US on the expression of the TGF-beta genes and the physical acoustic mechanisms involved in initiating changes in gene expression in vitro, are not yet known. The present study demonstrates that US had a differential effect on these TGF-beta isoforms in a human osteoblast cell line, with the highest dose eliciting the most pronounced up-regulation of both TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta3 at 1 hour after treatment and thereafter declining. In contrast, US had no effect on TGF-beta2 expression. Fluid streaming rather than thermal effects or cavitation was found to be the most likely explanation for the gene responses observed in vitro. 
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| Article download: Pages 
                    70-77. (PDF file) | 

 
     
     
     
    