Pathological analysis of epithelial cells in periodontitis

牙周炎是一种细菌感染性疾病，破坏牙龈上皮细胞，并发展免疫相关细胞的炎症。然而，牙周炎中上皮细胞的病理学研究较少，与免疫相关细胞相比。由于溶酶体蛋白（如组织蛋白酶C和Lyst）的基因突变会导致人类严重的牙周病，因此本研究以溶酶体异常为研究对象，通过对牙龈卟啉单胞菌感染的组织蛋白酶C缺陷小鼠和Lyst突变小鼠（米色小鼠）的上皮细胞进行分析，以明确上皮细胞在牙周炎中的生理和病理作用。

Periodontitis is a bacterial infectious disease that destroys gingival epithelial cells, and develops inflammation of immune-related cells. However, pathological studies on epithelial cells in periodontitis have been less frequently performed compared to those of immune-related cells. In this study, we focused on lysosomal abnormalities, because gene mutants of lysosomal proteins such as cathepsin C and Lyst causes severe periodontal diseases in human．Therefore, we analyzed epithelial cells in cathepsin C deficient mice and Lyst mutant mice (beige mouse) infected by Porphyromonas gingivalis, a major periodontal pathogen, in order to clear the physiological and pathological roles of epithelial cells in periodontitis.