Moringin and Other Small Molecules: Enhancing Oral Tissue Regeneration Through Autophagy

Multiple small molecule drugs have been utilized to alleviate survival stress by inducing autophagy in various oral tissue-related stem cells. These drugs can be either synthetic peptides or natural compounds derived from plants. They target different autophagy processes to achieve a balanced autophagy, ultimately leading to enhanced oral tissue regeneration.

Peptides and proteins such as IL-37, galectin-1 (Gal-1), WP9QY peptide, and Copine-7 have been demonstrated to improve the function of oral stem cells by regulating autophagy. IL-37 has been shown to enhance osteogenic and odontogenic differentiation of human DPSCs via autophagy, while Gal-1, a PPARbeta/delta agonist, acts as a RANKL and TNF-α antagonist, inhibiting LPS-induced autophagy and apoptosis of human PDLSCs. WP9QY peptide inhibits osteoclastogenesis and restores the physiological function of mature odontoblasts by inducing autophagy. CPNE7, a dental epithelium-derived peptide, also induces autophagy and enhances oral tissue regeneration.

Moringin, an isothiocyanate extracted from Moringa oleifera seeds, has been found to regulate stem cell function by manipulating autophagy pathways in PDLSCs and human gingival mesenchymal stem cells (hGMSCs). Studies have shown that moringin down-regulates pro-apoptotic genes expression and up-regulates anti-apoptotic genes expression in human-PDLSCs by inducing mitophagy. Additionally, moringin can induce PDLSCs and hGMSCs towards neural progenitor differentiation, making it a potential therapeutic approach for neural injury. Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology has revealed that moringin enhances the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, which is crucial for oral tissue regeneration.