Thy-1 Regulates Senescence And Immunological Function Of GMSCs

Thy-1 plays an important role in osteoarthritis, but its role in periodontitis remains unclear. This study aims to elucidate the regulatory effects of Thy-1 on the senescent phenotype and functional characteristics of gingival mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) in periodontitis. We used the following research methods: Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Analysis, Replicative aging model, oxidative stress stimulation model, Western Blot Analysis, RT‐qPCR Analysis, Immunofluorescent Staining and RNA sequencing. The quantitative results of the present study were presented as the mean ± standard deviation. GraphPad Prism version 9.0.0 was used to conduct statistical analyses. t test or analysis of variance was used for comparisons between groups obeying normal distribution. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Single-cell RNA sequencing showed that expression of Thy-1 significantly increased in GMSCs from patients with periodontitis, which was accompanied with obvious cellular senescence features. Further in vitro experiments showed that Thy-1 knockdown GMSCs had attenuated senescence features and were significantly more tolerant to oxidative stress. Finally, Thy-1 knockdown GMSCs inhibited macrophage polarization towards a pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype in a co-culture system. Within the periodontal inflammatory microenvironment, Thy-1-positive GMSCs displayed heightened senescence susceptibility, whereas in vitro experimental models demonstrated that Thy-1 knockdown GMSCs acquired enhanced resistance to both replicative senescence progression and oxidative stress challenges. This may provide new insights into stem cells senescence in periodontitis.