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REVIEW article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

Sec. Oral Microbes and Host

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1634909

This article is part of the Research TopicThe Immune Microenvironment- Microbiome Interactions in Peri-Implantitis and PeriodontitisView all 3 articles

Mechanisms and therapeutic perspectives of mitochondrial dysfunction of macrophages in periodontitis

Provisionally accepted
  • Hospital of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Periodontitis is a global inflammatory oral disease, and plaque-induced host excessive immune response is recognized as a major cause of its pathogenesis. In recent years, the relevance of mitochondrial dysfunction to periodontitis has been increasingly investigated, particularly with respect to macrophages, the key immune cells in the periodontal immune microenvironment. Mitochondrial dysfunction drives macrophage M1 polarization and osteoclast differentiation through mechanisms such as metabolic reprogramming, reactive oxygen species release, abnormal mitophagy, abnormal mitochondrial biogenesis and damaged mitochondrial dynamic. In addition, mitochondrial transfer in the periodontitis setting has been reported in several researches. In this review, we highlight the impact of mitochondrial dysfunction on macrophages in the periodontitis setting and summarize emerging therapeutic strategies for targeting mitochondria in periodontitis, including antioxidants, modulators of metabolic reprogramming, nanomaterials and photodynamic therapy.

Keywords: Mitochondrial dysfunction, Macrophage polarization, Osteoclast differentiation, periodontitis mechanism, Periodontitis treatment

Received: 25 May 2025; Accepted: 17 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Jia, Li, Huang and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Bo Yang, Hospital of Stomatology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong, China

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