THE VITAL ROLE OF PIEZO1 IN ARTICULAR CARTILAGE UNDER LOADING

Purpose (the aim of the study): Temporomandibular joints (TMJs) have a biomechanical relationship with dental occlusion, and respond to alteration of occlusion by remodeling. We had reported that aberrant occlusion, named unilateral anterior crossbite (UAC), stimulates osteoarthritis (OA) lesions in TMJs of mice, characterized as enhanced chondrocytes differentiation and matrix loss. Piezo1 is a nonselective ion channel that exhibits a preference for Ca2+ in response to mechanical stimuli. By using Piezo1 mutation technique, presently, we aimed to identify the role of Piezo1-mediated mechanotransduction in differentiation and degenerative response of chondrocytes in TMJ cartilage to UAC.