Temporomandibular Disorders Slow Down the Regeneration Process of Masticatory Muscles: Transcriptomic Analysis

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Musculoskeletal injuries represent a pathological condition due to limited joint motility and morphological and functional alterations of the muscles. Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) are pathological conditions due to alterations in the musculoskeletal system. TMDs mainly cause temporomandibular joint and masticatory muscle dysfunctions following trauma, along with various pathologies and inflammatory processes. TMD affects approximately 15% of the population and causes malocclusion problems and common symptoms such as myofascial pain and migraine. The aim of this work was to provide a transcriptomic profile of masticatory muscles obtained from TMD migraine patients compared to control. Materials and Methods: We used Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology to evaluate transcriptomes in masseter and temporalis muscle samples. Results: The transcriptomic analysis showed a prevalent downregulation of the genes involved in the myogenesis process. Conclusions: In conclusion, our findings suggest that the muscle regeneration process in TMD migraine patients may be slowed, therefore therapeutic interventions are needed to restore temporomandibular joint function and promote healing processes.

Keywords: RNA-seq analysis; masticatory muscles; migraine; next generation sequencing; temporomandibular disorder.

Figure 1

Differently expressed genes in the control or moderate groups against severe. The bar-plot shows that most of the genes are commonly deregulated between the two analysis (center blue frame) with similarly level of expression comparing control (grey bars) or moderate (azure bars) against severe groups. Moreover, eight genes are downregulated only in the moderate against severe analysis (right violet frame) and only three genes are deregulated comparing control against severe group (left azure frame).