MINERAL RECOVERY INDUCED BY BIOINSPIRED COMPOUNDS: CHEMICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND IMPACT ON THE PERMEABILITY OF ERODED DENTIN

• Grant number: 26/04694-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2026
• End date: October 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Dental Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Waldemir Francisco Vieira Junior
• Grantee: Maria Fernanda Ramos Torres
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba (FOP). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 25/09040-2 - Bioactive restorative materials and bioinspired compounds: interaction with dental tissues, degradation mechanisms, and in situ/in vivo effects, AP.PNGP.PI

Abstract

Dentin hypersensitivity and dental erosion are associated conditions that affect patients' quality of life. In this context, bioinspired active ingredients, such as amino acids and peptides, that promote mineral formationand occlusion of dentinal tubules with maintenance after acid challenges should be evaluated. Theobjective of the project is to investigate the effects and mechanisms involved in mineral recovery mediated by solutions containing amino acids, associated or not with fluorides, on eroded human dentin. In study 1, 176 human molar dentin specimens will be obtained, demineralized with citric acid (pH = 2.06), and exposed to a solution containing: I) glutamic acid (Glu), II) arginine (Arg), III) histidine (His), IV) levodopa (Dopa), with or without 0.2% NaF (Glu-NaF, Arg-NaF, His-NaF, Dopa-NaF). Controls for comparison will be intact dentin, demineralized dentin, and demineralized dentin exposed only to 0.2% NaF solution. The amino acids will be solubilized in PBS (phosphate buffered saline) solution and, after immersion in the experimental solutions, the dentin discs will be exposed to a remineralizing solution for 10 days. The discs will be characterized superficially and longitudinally using scanning electron microscopy (SEM, n=5), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS, n=5), X-ray diffraction (XRD, n=3), and X-ray microfluorescence (XRF, n=3). In study 2, after determining the bioinspired compound with the highest mineral induction potential, 60 slices of human dentin will be obtained and subjectedto erosive cycling, as follows: I) intact dentin (no cycling, negative control), II) distilled water (only cycling, positive control), III) 0.2% NaF solution, IV) amino acid solution, V) solution with amino acid and 0.2% NaF. The erosive cycling will last five days with four daily erosive challenges (0.05 M citric acid, pH=3.2), exposure to artificial saliva, and two exposures to the experimental solutions. Dentin permeability (n=12) will be measured through hydraulic conductance (Lp) after specimen preparation and exposure to 17% EDTA solution (baseline) and after erosive cycling/treatments (final). Thediameter, perimeter, tubule diametre, and surface morphology will be determined by SEM (n=12) inassociation with ImageJ software. The results will be submitted to an exploratory analysis, evaluating the normality, homoscedasticity, and distribution of the data, to select the most appropriate statistical test, with a significance level set at 5%. (AU)