Tumor treating fields (TTF) therapy is an innovative tumor treatment modality. Currently, the TTF devices predominantly employ insulated ceramic electrodes as the electric field transmission medium, resulting in low energy transfer efficiency of the electric field and poor portability of the devices. This study proposed an innovative TTF transmission mode and independently designed a conducted-electrode TTF cell culture dish utilizing inert titanium materials. The electric field conduction characteristics were verified through finite element simulations and experimental tests. Finally, based on the self-manufactured conducted-electrode TTF cell culture dish, experiments on the proliferation inhibition of U87 tumor cells by TTF were conducted. The results demonstrated that under an applied TTF voltage of 10 V and frequency of 200 kHz, the electric field intensities within the medium for conducted and insulated electrodes are approximately 2.5 V/cm and 0.7 V/cm, respectively. Compared to conventional insulated TTF systems, the conducted-electrode TTF configuration exhibited a lower electrode voltage drop and a higher electric field intensity in the culture medium, indicating superior electric field transmission efficiency. Following 36 hours of treatment with conducted-electrode TTF on U87 cells, the proliferation inhibition rate reached approximately 50%, demonstrating effective suppression of tumor cell growth. This approach presents a potential direction for optimizing TTF treatment modality and device design.
Humans ; Electrodes ; Neoplasms/pathology* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/radiation effects* ; Electric Stimulation Therapy/methods* ; Electromagnetic Fields

The anterior disc displacement (ADD) leads to temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJOA) and mandibular growth retardation in adolescents. To investigate the potential functional role of fibrocartilage stem cells (FCSCs) during the process, a surgical ADD-TMJOA mouse model was established. From 1 week after model generation, ADD mice exhibited aggravated mandibular growth retardation with osteoarthritis (OA)-like joint cartilage degeneration, manifesting with impaired chondrogenic differentiation and loss of subchondral bone homeostasis. Lineage tracing using Gli1-CreER⁺; Tm^fl/-mice and Sox9-CreER⁺;Tm^fl/-mice showed that ADD interfered with the chondrogenic capacity of Gli1⁺ FCSCs as well as osteogenic differentiation of Sox9⁺ lineage, mainly in the middle zone of TMJ cartilage. Then, a surgically induced disc reposition (DR) mouse model was generated. The inhibited FCSCs capacity was significantly alleviated by DR treatment in ADD mice. And both the ADD mice and adolescent ADD patients had significantly relieved OA phenotype and improved condylar growth after DR treatment. In conclusion, ADD-TMJOA leads to impaired chondrogenic progenitor capacity and osteogenesis differentiation of FCSCs lineage, resulting in cartilage degeneration and loss of subchondral bone homeostasis, finally causing TMJ growth retardation. DR at an early stage could significantly alleviate cartilage degeneration and restore TMJ cartilage growth potential.
Animals ; Mice ; Osteogenesis ; Zinc Finger Protein GLI1 ; Fibrocartilage ; Temporomandibular Joint ; Disease Models, Animal ; Osteoarthritis ; Stem Cells ; Growth Disorders

Objective:To evaluate the effect of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and epigallocatechin-3-O-(3-O-methyl)-gallate (EGCG-3Me) on the anti-bacterial effect and the stability of intraradicular dentin-adhesive interface.Methods:EGCG and EGCG3Me with the concentration of 400 μg/ml were incorporated into Single Bond 2 (SB2) respectively to obtain 2 modified adhesives E-SB2 and E3-SB2.Confocal laser scanning microscopy(CLSM) and ultraviolet spectrophotometry were used to evaluate the anti-bacterial effect of the modified adhesives.Micro-Raman spectrum was used to test the degree of conversion (DC) of the adhesives.Push-out bond strength test was conducted to examine the immediate bond strength and the bond strength after themocycling.Results:E-SB2 and E3-SB2 both showed inhibiting effect on the proliferation of E.faecalis,while E3-SB2 performed stronger inhibiting effect.DC and the immediate push-out bond strength of SB2 were not decreased with the incorporation of EGCG or EGCG-3Me(P ＞ 0.05).E-SB2 and E3-SB2 showed significantly higher push-out bond strengths than that of SB2 (P ＜ 0.05) after themocycling.Conclusion:EGCG and EGCG-3Me modified adhesives have anti-bacterial effect and can enhance the stability of bonding between intraradicular dentin and adhesive,EGCG-3Me may have stronger anti-bacterial effect.