Dr. Jonathan An and Dr. Matt Kaeberlein of the School of Dentistry, along with their colleagues across the country, have found that rapamycin can regenerate bone and decrease gum inflammation, pointing the way toward new treatments for common dental problems in aging patients.
Using a 3-D imaging technique called microcomputed tomography, the researchers measured the periodontal bone of the rapamycin-treated and untreated mice. The treated mice had more bone than the untreated mice and had actually grown new bone during the period they were receiving rapamycin.
In their studies of rapamycin in old mice, the researchers found another intriguing effect: The drug significantly changed the oral microbiome, which is the mouth’s bacterial population. They discovered that old animals not only had a different oral microbiome than the young animals, but that rapamycin treatment reversed changes in the old oral microbiome, making it more similar to what was found in younger animals.
A good interview with Matt Kaeberlein that goes into more depth on this Oral Rejuvenation Study:
Read the Full Research Paper Here:
elife-54318.pdf (2.1 MB)