Debashree Saxena

Boston University | BU · Department of Periodontology and Oral Biology

Gingival overgrowth is a side effect of certain medications, including calcium channel blockers, cyclosporin A, and phenytoin. Phenytoin-induced gingival overgrowth is fibrotic. Lysyl oxidases are extracellular enzymes that are required for biosynthetic cross-linking of collagens, and members of this enzyme family are upregulated in fibrosis. Previ...

A simple method for the determination of relative levels of insoluble collagen accumulation in fibroblast cultures is presented. Confluent cell cultures are provided with sodium ascorbate which is then permissive for collagen deposition. At intervals, cultures are fixed and stained successively with sirius red and then crystal Violet to, respective...

Lysyl oxidases are enzymes which catalyze the final enzymatic modification of ε‐ amino groups of lysine residues of elastin, and lysine and hydroxylysine residues of collagens, to form peptidyl‐aldehydes required for biosynthetic cross‐linking and extracellular matrix maturation and function. This family includes lysyl oxidase (LOX) and lysyl oxida...

Lysyl oxidase is a multifunctional enzyme required for collagen biosynthesis. Various growth factors regulate lysyl oxidase during osteoblast differentiation, subject to modulation by cytokines such as TNF-α in inflammatory osteopenic disorders including diabetic bone disease. Canonical Wnt signaling promotes osteoblast development. Here we investi...

Objective: Phenytoin- and nifedipine-induced human gingival overgrowth tissues contain high levels of CCN2 (connective tissue growth factor). Recombinant CCN2 protein (rCCN2) stimulates collagen accumulation in gingival fibroblast cultures via integrin alpha6 beta1. These effects are inhibited by a small synthetic CCN2 peptide (M3P). Here the mecha...