Nowadays, dental caries is one of the most common oral health problems, affecting most individuals. It has been found that, by remineralizing enamel at an early stage in the formation of enamel caries, teeth can be effectively protected from dental caries. In this work, a peptide with eight repetitive sequences of aspartate-serine-serine (8DSS) is applied as the bio-mineralizer in an in-vivo rat enamel caries model. Nondestructive quantitative light-induced fluorescence-digital (QLF-D) imaging and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) are used to evaluate the remineralization of enamel carious lesions by measuring the total fluorescence radiance loss of the molar area (ΔQTotal), acquired using QLF-D imaging, and the mineral density and residual molar enamel volume, acquired using micro-CT. Correlations are explored between ΔQTotal and mineral density (strong correlation, r = 0.8000, p < 0.001) and ΔQTotal and residual molar enamel volume (moderate correlation, r = 0.6375, p < 0.001). Our results demonstrate that 8DSS is a promising in-vivo remineralization agent that exhibits comparable effects to NaF (p < 0.05), which has been verified using the classical Keyes method. Moreover, the nondestructive QLF-D and micro-CT methods can be combined to quantify the remineralization of enamel carious lesions three-dimensionally in vivo, making them broadly applicable in quantifying hard tissues.

中文翻译：

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两种无损技术评估8DSS肽对大鼠牙釉质龋再矿化的影响

如今，龋齿是最常见的口腔健康问题之一，影响到大多数人。已经发现，通过在牙釉质龋形成的早期阶段再矿化牙釉质，可以有效地保护牙齿免受龋齿的侵害。在这项工作中，一种具有八个天冬氨酸-丝氨酸-丝氨酸 (8DSS) 重复序列的肽被用作体内大鼠釉质龋模型中的生物矿化剂。无损定量光诱导荧光数字 (QLF-D) 成像和微型计算机断层扫描 (micro-CT) 用于通过测量磨牙面积的总荧光辐射损失 (ΔQTotal) 来评估牙釉质龋损的再矿化，获得使用 QLF-D 成像，以及使用显微 CT 获得的矿物质密度和残余牙釉质体积。探讨了 ΔQTotal 与矿物质密度（强相关性，r = 0.8000，p < 0.001）和 ΔQTotal 与残余牙釉质体积（中等相关性，r = 0.6375，p < 0.001）之间的相关性。我们的结果表明，8DSS 是一种很有前途的体内再矿化剂，其效果与 NaF 相当（p < 0.05），这已使用经典 Keyes 方法进行了验证。此外，无损QLF-D和显微CT方法可以结合在体内三维量化牙釉质龋病灶的再矿化，使其广泛适用于量化硬组织。我们的结果表明，8DSS 是一种很有前途的体内再矿化剂，其效果与 NaF 相当（p < 0.05），这已使用经典 Keyes 方法进行了验证。此外，无损QLF-D和显微CT方法可以结合在体内三维量化牙釉质龋病灶的再矿化，使其广泛适用于量化硬组织。我们的结果表明，8DSS 是一种很有前途的体内再矿化剂，其效果与 NaF 相当（p < 0.05），这已使用经典 Keyes 方法进行了验证。此外，无损QLF-D和显微CT方法可以结合在体内三维量化牙釉质龋病灶的再矿化，使其广泛适用于量化硬组织。