5 μg of the RNA of each sample. The samples were then subjected to the following amplification cycling conditions: 25 °C (10 min), 37 °C (120 min), 85 °C (5 s) and 4 °C thereafter. After cDNA synthesis, the expression of the genes that encode for Col-I and ALP was evaluated by qPCR. For each gene, specific primers were synthesized from the mRNA sequence (Table 1). The reactions were prepared with standard reagents for qPCR (Syber Green PCR Master Mix; Applied Biosystems) together with the primer/probe sets specific

for each gene (Table 1). The fluorescence readings were performed using the Step One Plus System (Applied Biosystems) at each amplification cycle, and were analyzed subsequently using the Step One Software 2.1 (Applied LGK974 Biosystems). All reactions were subjected to the same analytical conditions and were normalized by the ROX™ passive reference dye signal to correct fluctuations on reading resulting from variations of volume and evaporation during the reaction. The result, expressed in CT values, refers to the number of cycles necessary for the fluorescent signal to reach the detection threshold. The individual results expressed Y-27632 order in CT values were recorded in worksheets, grouped according to the groups and normalized according to the expression of the selected endogenous reference gene (β-actin). Then, the RNAm concentrations of each target gene were analyzed

statistically. After analysis of data distribution (Shapiro-Wilk, p > 0.05) and homogeneity of variances (Levene, p > 0.05), cell viability (SDH production), TP production, ALP activity and Col-I and ALP expression data were independently subjected to one-way analysis of variance (treatment: control, 1 μM or 5 μM ZOL). Once rejected the null hypothesis of Farnesyltransferase absence of differences among the groups, additional Tukey’s tests were also applied for pairwise comparison. A significance level of 5% was set for all analyses. Data

from SDH production, TP production and ALP activity are presented in Table 2. The use of 1 μM ZOL did not cause a significant (p > 0.05) reduction in SDH production compared with the control group. However, SDH production decreased significantly compared with the control group (p < 0.05) when ZOL concentration increased to 5 μM. No statistically significant difference was found between the 1 and 5 μM ZOL concentrations ( Table 2). Application of ZOL on the odontoblast-like cells caused a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in TP production and ALP activity ( Table 2) compared with the control group. No statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) was found between the 1 and 5 μM ZOL concentrations ( Table 2). Col-I and ALP expression detected by qPCR are presented in Fig. 1. When the MDPC-23 cells were exposed to ZOL at 5 μM concentration, Col-I expression did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) from the control group in which the drug was not used.