Abstract
Cryotherapy is a common non-pharmacological method to relieve pain and inflammation. Clinical studies have shown that cryotherapy can reduce postoperative pain after root canal therapy, but the mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms by which cryotherapy reduces inflammation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated periodontal ligament cells through transcriptome sequencing analysis. We found that cryotherapy significantly reduced the expression of multiple proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and NFKB1 was the key regulator down-regulated by cryotherapy. Importantly, we discovered that lncRNA SNHG1 expression level significantly decreased after cold treatment. SNHG1 expression was positively related to NFKB1 while negatively correlated with miR-9-5p, which formed a novel ceRNA regulatory pathway. Knockdown of SNHG1 significantly reduced the expression of NFKB1, IL1B, and IL6, while overexpression of SNHG1 significantly increased the expression of these genes. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that cryotherapy can effectively reduce inflammation in LPS-induced periodontal ligament cells by suppressing the lncRNA SNHG1/miR-9-5p/NFKB1 axis.