Growth Factors : Role in periodontal regeneration

Growth factors are a class of natural biologic mediators which regulate key cellular events in tissue repair i.e. cell proliferation, chemotaxis (directed migration), differentiation and matrix synthesis via binding to specific cell surface receptors. The expression of various growth and differentiation factors following bone and soft tissue injury like what happens in a periodontal disease may regulate the repair and regeneration process. The capacity of these mitogenic growth factors to initiate a programmed cellular cascade that results in the induction of bone in a functionally conserved process utilized in embryonic development recapitulated in post fetal osteogenesis and can be re-exploited for the therapeutic initiation of periodontal tissue regeneration.