Abstract
Periodontitis is a bacteria-induced inflammatory disease characterized by the progressive destruction of periodontal supporting tissues. Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) are capable of differentiating into osteoblasts, which is an important stem cell source for endogenous periodontal tissue regeneration. Lysine lactylation (Kla) is a novel post-translational modification of proteins that is recently thought to be associated with osteogenic differentiation. Here, we found that lactylation levels are reduced both in the periodontal tissue of rats with periodontitis and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human PDLSCs. Proanthocyanidins were able to promote the osteogenesis of inflamed PDLSCs by restoring lactylation levels. Mechanistically, proanthocyanidins increased lactate production and restored the lactylation levels of PDLSCs, which recovered osteogenesis of inflamed PDLSCs via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. These results provide evidence on how epigenetic regulation by pharmacological agents influence the osteogenic phenotype of stem cells and the process of periodontal tissue repair. Our current study highlights the valuable potential of natural product proanthocyanidins in the regenerative engineering of periodontal tissues.