Objectives: A recent technological advance, such as a proteomic screening methodology has enabled to identify disease-specific molecules in various disease conditions. The aim of this study was to identify specific molecules existing in synovial fluids from osteoarthritic (OA) temporomandibular joints (TMJ). Methods: TMJ OA patients (1 male, 3 female; mean age, 35.3+/-13.4 yrs) were selected from a consecutive series of patients who attended our TMD clinic in Okayama University Dental Hospital. Inclusion criteria for patients selected were: 1) chronic TMJ pain for >3 months regardless of palliative treatments; 2) X-ray depicted degenerative findings in the affected TMJ; 3) TMJ pain aggravated by jaw movement; 4) receiving arthrocentesis to manage chronic TMJ pain; and 5) painless of any other joint. Volunteers (4 female; mean age, 24.3+/-1.0 yrs) were recruited from among students and staffs of our school to serve as asymptomatic controls. To compare the protein profiles between the TMJ OA patients and controls, we used a surface enhanced laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry SELDI-TOFMS (ProteinChip^® System, Ciphergen Biosystems, CA) under a blind condition to the patient information. From the available protein profiles, one patient and one control were excluded due to obvious contamination and mean relative peak intensity (RPI) differences between groups were analyzed by using a special statistical software (Biomarker Wizard) included in the system (Mann-Whitney U-test: cut off a=0.05). Results: The OA synovial fluids showed significantly higher mean RPI intensity in molecular mass of 28.09 kDa and lower mean RPI in molecular masses of 13.76, 23.4, 39.75, 60.53, 79.36 and 148.1 kDa than the control fluids. Conclusions: The proteomic profiles of the synovial fluids between the TMJ OA patients and controls were compared by using a SELDI-TOFMS system, and several candidate molecules specific to the OA synovial fluids were successfully identified. JSPS Grant (#14571843 and #15592050)

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