Fig. 7

Changes in the expression of pathway key proteins involved in osteoblast‒osteoclast differentiation in dental tissues after 2–4 weeks of treatment with different orthodontic methods. (A–C), The key proteins OPN and RUNX2 for osteogenesis, the key proteins RANK and NFATC1 for osteoclastic differentiation and formation, and key proteins of the β-catenin signaling pathway (SIRT1, β-catenin, and GSK3β) were detected by Western blotting after 2, 3 and 4 weeks of orthodontic treatment. β-Actin was used as an internal control, the data displayed below the protein bands represent the target protein/β-actin following greyscale analysis of the bands using Image J software (the Western blot results are presented as a cropped representative image; the uncropped original blot can be found in the Supplementary Information section).