Near-infrared laser increases MDPC-23 odontoblast-like cells proliferation by activating redox sensitive pathways

Near infrared laser is known to induce biostimulatory effects, resulting in cell proliferation enhancement. Although such positive effect is widely exploited in various clinical applications, molecular mechanisms involved are still poorly understood. The aim of the study was to investigate the ability of laser stimulation to increase cell proliferation through an early activation of three redox sensitive pathways, namely Nrf-2, NF-κB and ERK in a rat odontoblast-like cell line (MDPC-23 cells). MDPC-23 cells were irradiated with different energy settings (0–50 J, corresponding to 0–32.47 J/cm²) and cell proliferation was evaluated by cell counting. Nrf-2, NF-κB and ERK signaling pathways activation was investigated through Western blot analysis. Our results show that a single 25 J laser stimulation is able to increase cell proliferation and that this effect could be increased by repeating the stimulation twice with a time lapse of 24 h. Western blot experiments demonstrated that laser stimulation is able to induce an early activation response in intracellular signaling, with an overlapping time pattern between the three considered pathways. Results discussed in this paper reveal a complex mechanism underlying near-infrared induced increase in pre-odontoblasts proliferation, involving three survival pathways that can act both separately or through reciprocal crosstalk. In particular, data presented suggest an important role for ERK pathway that could act directly by stimulating cell proliferation but can also induce both Nrf-2 and NF-κB activation, acting as a critical cellular checkpoint in response to imbalanced redox state generated by a laser induced increase in ROS production.