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Nifedipine and Cyclosporin Affect Fibroblast Calcium and Gingiva
1 Department of Periodontology, Facultad de Odontologia, University of Sevilla, c/Avicena s/n, 41009 Sevilla, Spain; Correspondence: * corresponding author, pbullon{at}us.es
It has been stated that cyclosporin and nifedipine produce gingival overgrowth. However, the specific pathogenic mechanism remains uncertain. We used an experimental rat model to test the hypothesis that changes in collagen metabolism and numbers of gingival blood vessels are not mediated by intracellular calcium concentration (ratiometric Fura-2 AM measurement) in gingival fibroblasts. In the cyclosporin group, both width (364.2 ± 67.5 µm) and microvessel density (number of vessels/mm2, stained with anti-CD34 antibody) (41.6 ± 5.1) of gingiva were statistically different when compared with those in the control group (width = 184.3 ± 35.2 µm, microvessel density = 19.6 ± 2.4). The nifedipine group showed the highest content of collagen (proportion of total stroma occupied by collagen, stained with Picro-Mallory) (nifedipine group = 66.3 ± 9.4, cyclosporin group = 55.2 ± 7.9, control group = 30.1 ± 10.2). Freshly cultured fibroblasts from the cyclosporin group exhibited higher ratiometric values of fluorescence than did both the control and nifedipine groups (p = 0.03). Our results support the hypothesis that changes in gingival collagen metabolism are not mediated by calcium intracellular oscillations.
Key Words: nifedipine cyclosporin A gingival overgrowth Fura intracellular calcium
Gingival overgrowth is a well-known side-effect of cyclosporin and nifedipine (Hallmon and Rossmann, 1999), but its pathogenic mechanism still remains uncertain. For both substances, a marked increase in collagen has been described and related to diminished MMP-1 secretion and collagen phagocytosis (McGaw and Porter, 1988; Kataoka et al., 2001; Maita et al., 2004; Gagliano et al., 2005). Besides collagen homeostasis alterations, nifedipine and cyclosporin might modify tissue angiogenesis. We know that there is an increase in the number of blood vessels in chronic adult periodontitis (Bonakdar et al., 1997). Nifedipine, nimodipine and verapamil produce higher vascular density in the chick chorioallantoic membrane (Dusseau and Hutchins, 1993). A role for cyclosporin in promoting angiogenesis has been suggested (Ayanoglou and Lesty, 1999). However, no increased number of vessels was observed in rats treated with cyclosporin and nifedipine (Spolidorio et al., 2002). Fibroblast metabolism is essential in collagen turnover and implicates intracellular calcium leading to gingival overgrowth (McCulloch, 2004). Cellular signaling mechanisms may be involved in the metabolic status change due to drugs, in particular those modulating intracellular calcium ion concentration, [Ca2+]i (Barclay et al., 1992; Hallmon and Rossmann, 1999). With regard to the measurement of the cytoplasmic calcium concentration, the ratiometric method has become a standard, to avoid the interference of intracellular organelles leading to anomalous values of cytoplasmic calcium concentration, as determined by imaging techniques (Grynkiewicz et al., 1985). It has been demonstrated that nifedipine blocks the increase in intracellular calcium induced by the mechanical stretching of gingival fibroblasts (Arora et al., 1994). Also, cyclosporin inhibits interleukin-2-dependent T-cell proliferation by lowering cytosolic concentrations of free calcium ions (Gelfand et al., 1987). Given these data, we used an experimental rat model to analyze collagen levels and microvessel density in nifedipine and cyclosporin gingival biopsies. We then correlated these findings with the intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+ ]i) in gingival fibroblasts. We used fresh fibroblasts extracted from the gingival biopsies to explore the relationship between a change in the [Ca2+]i in fibroblasts and the induced morphological tissue features. Fresh culture of gingival cells allowed us to make reliable intracellular calcium determinations in quasi in vivo conditions.
Animals were used according to the European Community Council directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the approval of the Local Review Committee. Thirty Wistar rats, one-month-old males weighing between 150 and 200 g each, were randomly distributed in 3 groups of 10. All were housed in cages under similar environmental conditions for 6 wks, with free access to food and water. The cyclosporin group received daily intraperitoneal injections of cyclosporin (30 mg/kg body weight; Sandimmun®, Novartis, Basel, Switzerland). The nifedipine group received once-daily intraperitoneal injections of nifedipine (1 mg/kg body weight; Adalat®, Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany). The control group did not receive any treatment. At the end of the experimental period, all animals were anesthetized with intraperitoneal pentobarbital (25 mg/kg body weight), and samples were obtained for the following double-blind analyses.
Intracellular Calcium In vitro calibration of Fura-2 AM was performed in a 5-µL prism-shaped microcuvette filled with a solution containing Fura-2 pentapotassium (20 µM) in different pCa buffered solutions, obtained from Molecular Probes (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), and their calcium concentrations were checked with a calcium-selective microelectrode. Calibration curves at different fluorescence ratios were fitted according to the general expression: (Fmax-Fmin)/{1+Kdx10expX} + Fmin (Fmax, maximal value of fluorescence; Fmin, minimal value of fluorescence; Kd, dissociation constant). According to the 340/380 ratio, the Kd was 120 nM. Calcium concentrations were calculated according to the equation: [Ca2+] = Kdβ(R-Rmin)/(Rmax-R) (Grynkiewicz et al., 1985), where R is the 340/380 ratio of the fluorescence intensity generated at these wavelengths in the cell, Rmax is the maximum ratio obtained at saturating calcium concentrations, and Rmin is the minimum ratio measured with the lowest calcium concentration. Kd is the apparent dissociation constant of FURA-2 for calcium, and β is the ratio of the 380-nm fluorescence under minimum and maximum [Ca2+] conditions.
Histological Study
Statistical Analysis The means and standard deviations of the continuous variables were calculated. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to test for normal distribution. Differences between groups were assessed by analysis of variance (ANOVA), with the Bonferroni test used to establish any differences between groups. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
In the cyclosporin group, both the width and microvessel density of the marginal gingiva were significantly increased compared with those in the control group (respectively, p = 0.003 and p < 0.0001; Figs. 1
Fibroblasts in the nifedipine group showed resting fluorescence values similar to those for the cyclosporine group. However, after depolarization with 10 mM potassium in the extracellular medium, nifedipine-treated cells showed less increase in fluorescence than did cells from controls (data not shown). Fibroblasts from the cyclosporine group exhibited higher ratiometric values of fluorescence than did the control and nifedipine groups (0.7 ± 0.2) (p = 0.03) (Fig. 4
Our results, indicating that cyclosporin causes a more severe gingival overgrowth than does nifedipine in rats, agreed with previously published data (Spolidorio et al., 2002), but we also observed that cyclosporin gingival enlargement was related principally to increased numbers of microvessels and, to a lesser extent, to increased collagen, whereas nifedipine gingival overgrowth was almost completely attributable to more collagen. Analysis of our data confirms the pro-angiogenetic properties of cyclosporin in gingival tissues, since some authors (Ayanoglou and Lesty, 1999) have previously suggested measuring the numbers of vessels/mm2 in semi-thin sections of the gingival connective tissue of rats treated with cyclosporin. However, other researchers found no increased numbers of vessels in rats treated with cyclosporin or nifedipine (Spolidorio et al., 2002), but they did not stain vessels by immunohistochemistry. Other authors found a decreased number of vessels immunostained with anti-CD34 in the renal peritubular capillaries of children affected by nephrotic syndrome after 1–2 yrs of cyclosporin treatment (Lim et al., 2004). The differences in angiogenetic response and fibrotic process related to nifedipine and cyclosporin may also be influenced by specific properties of different tissues, and the gingiva is exceptional for its extensive collateral microvasculature and relatively high collagen turnover rate. Such aspects should be considered in relation to side-effects in organ transplantation, such as in the kidneys, to evaluate possible relevant drug-induced influences during and after transplantation. In our study, collagen seemed to be mainly responsible for gingival enlargement with nifedipine, more than angiogenesis. Therefore, we could not confirm previous data suggesting an increasing vascularization in nifedipine-treated rats in the chick chorioallantoic membrane (Dusseau and Hutchins, 1993). Our data, however, are in agreement with other results, which reported that nifedipine produced specific enhancement of synthesis of collagenous proteins by gingival fibroblasts (Henderson et al., 1997), and an increase of collagen in the myocardium of rats receiving nifedipine (Frolov, 2003). Further, when the amounts of gingival collagen in persons treated with cyclosporin, nifedipine, hydantoin, and a control group were compared, the area occupied by collagen was significantly greater in nifedipine than in the other pathology groups (Bonnaure-Mallet et al., 1995). In our study, the higher amount of collagen in the nifedipine group, as measured by the proportion of collagen in the total tissue, did not produce a homogeneous effect in gingival width, but the tissue was more fibrotic. Cyclosporin has also been shown to produce an increase in the proportion of gingival collagen in humans (Wysocki et al., 1983). In fibroblasts treated with cyclosporin, significantly higher levels of expression of type I collagen have been demonstrated (Arzate et al., 2005). In our study, collagen increased in the cyclosporin group, but less than in the nifedipine one. We hypothesized that a modification of [Ca2+ ]i in gingival fibroblasts might be among the underlying mechanisms for the differing patterns of gingival overgrowth in rats treated with nifedipine or cyclosporin. For these reasons, we used fresh gingival fibroblasts taken from the rats to explore the possible effects of a change in [Ca2+]i on other proliferative variables. Fresh culture of gingival cells allowed us to make reliable intracellular calcium determinations, depending on the preceding in vivo conditions. Chronic culture of gingival cell lines usually shows changes in [Ca2+ ]i not related to the in vivo location. In our study, nifedipine seemed to have no influence on [Ca2+]i under resting conditions. However, the change in cytoplasmic calcium concentration during depolarization, induced by an increase in extracellular potassium, was less than that found in control cells. This finding agrees with the known low conductance of L-type calcium channels under resting conditions, and the blocking effects of nifedipine during the expected opening of these channels under depolarizing conditions. The intracellular calcium variations seen with nifedipine in rat cardiac fibroblasts with a Calcium Kit-Fluo3 (Dajindo Laboratories, Tokyo, Japan) did not show alterations in the fluorescence intensity of fluo 3 in the presence or absence of extracellular calcium (Yue et al., 2004). They also stated that nifedipine increased the gelatinolytic activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-2) significantly in a dose-dependent manner. Analysis of our data supports these studies, indicating that there may be some other mechanisms for nifedipine to exert its effects on MMP-2 expression in fibroblasts, independently of intracellular calcium variation. The highest level of new collagen in the gingival tissue of nifedipine-treated animals has been ascribed to the low change in calcium concentration, in addition to the known effect of nifedipine on cathepsins B and L inhibition (Nishimura et al., 2002). In contrast, the cyclosporin-treated cells in our study showed the highest cytoplasmic calcium concentration under resting conditions. Analysis of these data suggests that changes in intracellular calcium can regulate MMP dynamics underlying the gingival enlargement (Munshi et al., 2002). In effect, MMP-1 is an endopeptidase activated by divalent cations (Ca2+, Zn2+) and negatively regulated by TIMP (tissue inhibitor of metalloprotease), an endogenous inhibitor TIMP-2 that is co-expressed from fibroblasts and might be activated by Ca2+ (Goldberg et al, 1989). The latter would result in an inhibition of MMP underlying the gingival collagen overproduction in CsA-treated cells in which [Ca2+ ]i is increased. Another possible mechanism not considered in our study is the effect of CsA on the genetic expression of MMP and TIMP. It has been shown that CsA inhibits MMP-1 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels in a dose-dependent way. However, CsA had no effect on the TIMP-1 protein level, which is compatible with a decreasing activity of MMP-1 underlying the collagen proliferation in CsA-treated tissue (Hyland et al., 2003). Cyclosporin is known to increase the permeability of liver plasma membrane to calcium, resulting in an increase in total cell calcium content (Nicchitta et al., 1985). Incubation of rat aortic vascular smooth-muscle cells with cyclosporin increased cytosolic calcium concentrations in response to several vasoconstrictor hormones (Lo Russo et al., 1997). The addition of cyclosporin to isolated rat renal proximal tubules caused a transient increase in intracellular calcium (Carvalho da Costa et al., 2003). In summary, our results support the hypothesis that the gingival overgrowth induced by nifedipine and/or cyclosporin treatment may be mediated by a resultant higher number of gingival vessels, and that changes in collagen metabolism are not mediated by intracellular calcium changes. However, intracellular calcium may play a role by direct or indirect inhibition of MMP activity and by decreasing collagen phagocytosis.
This investigation was supported by the Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura (PM96-0108) of Spain. The valuable help of M. Glebocki in editing the manuscript is gratefully acknowledged. Received for publication February 1, 2006. Revision received November 8, 2006. Accepted for publication November 17, 2006.
Journal of Dental Research, Vol. 86, No. 4,
357-362 (2007)
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F/F. Changes in ratiometric values of fluorescence, thought to be proportional to intracellular free calcium, are shown in (d). The nifedipine group showed the lowest [Ca2+]i, but not significantly different from that in the control group. The cyclosporin group showed the highest cytoplasmic calcium concentration under resting conditions (*p < 0.05). The data are expressed as the mean ± SD.