Figure 8.

The effect of the blockade of GJ on the dynamic of continuous compressive force–induced [Ca²⁺]_i signals and gene expression profiles in hPDL. A) The [Ca²⁺]_i profile of all investigated hPDL cells under 18α-GA treatment. The average profile is indicated by the block line in black. B) The heatmap and cluster analysis of all of the [Ca²⁺]_i signal features. C) The comparison in the percentage of responding cells defined by . D) [Ca2+]_i signal features. Ns, not significant. ^‡paired Student’s t test. ^‡P < 0.05, ^‡‡P < 0.01, ^‡‡‡P < 0.001, ^‡‡‡‡P < 0.0001. E) The percentage of responsive cells, peak relative fluorescence intensity in the responsive cells, and cell response frequency in the responsive cells after the continuous compressive force was calculated. The intact hPDL explants were treated with 30 μM of 18α-GA for 6 h prior to the experiments. F) The expression of Rankl, Opg, Rankl/Opg, and Sost in hPDL fibroblasts treated with 5.0 μM of 18α-GA for 6 h. The qRT-PCR results are standardized to the reference gene GAPDH and expressed as the means ± sd. The asterisks indicate significant differences. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001; a 1-way ANOVA with Fisher’s least significant difference test.