ABSTRACT
The mouse X-chromosomal amelogenin gene promoter was used to drive the expression of mutated amelogenin proteins in vivo. Two different transgenic mouse lines based on deletions to either the amino-terminal (A-domain deletions) or to the carboxyl-region (B-domain deletions) were bred. In the molars of newborn A-domain deleted transgenic mice the formation of the initial layer of aprismatic enamel was delayed. There were severe structural alterations in the enamel of incisors of newborn mice bearing the A-domain deletion which were not apparent in animals bearing the B-domain deletion. In the A-domain-deleted animals, stippled material accumulated throughout the entire thickness of the forming enamel apparently causing a disruption of the normal rod-to-inter-rod relationship. This stippled material was likened to and interpreted as being groupings of amelogenin nanospheres. In the B-domain-deleted animals the stippled material was detected only in minute defects of the forming enamel. These data suggest significant differences in nanosphere assembly properties for animals bearing either the A-domain or the B-domain-deleted transgene. The present in vivo experimental approach suggests that at early stages of enamel formation, the A-domain plays a greater role than does the B-domain in amelogenin self-assembly, and consequently in enamel architecture and structure.
Subject(s)
Amelogenesis/genetics , Dental Enamel Proteins/genetics , Dental Enamel/ultrastructure , Tooth Germ/ultrastructure , Amelogenin , Amino Acid Sequence , Animals , Animals, Newborn , Dental Enamel/growth & development , Genetic Engineering , Incisor/growth & development , Incisor/ultrastructure , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Mice, Inbred CBA , Mice, Transgenic , Microscopy, Electron , Molar/growth & development , Molar/ultrastructure , Molecular Sequence Data , Protein Structure, Tertiary/genetics , Tooth Germ/growth & developmentABSTRACT
In order to explore the possibility that phospholipids are differently expressed during the cascade of events leading to tooth formation, we decided to carry out simultaneous biochemical, histological and electron histochemical studies. High performance thin-layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography were used to compare the composition of embryonic mouse first molar tooth germs at day 18 of gestation (E18) and at birth (D1), erupting teeth at day 7 (D7) and erupted molars at day 21 (D21). For the latter, non-demineralized and EDTA-demineralized lipid extracts were analysed separately. Moreover, an ultrahistochemical study was carried out using the iodoplatinate reaction which retains and visualizes phospholipids. Developmentally regulated changes occurred and were closely correlated with an increase in cell membrane phospholipids. Gradual accumulation of phospholipids was identified in the extracellular matrix, at an early stage of tooth germ development within the basement membrane and later, as predentine/dentine and enamel components participating in mineralization processes. Matrix vesicles transiently present in dentine were partly responsible for the lipids that were detected. A first group of phospholipids including phosphatidylcholine as the major membrane-associated phospholipid and phosphatidylinositol as the intracellular second messenger increased by a factor of 2.3 between E18 and D21. This increase is probably associated with cell lengthening and was relatively modest compared with the higher increase detected for a second group of phospholipids, namely phosphatidylethanolamine (x4.8), phosphatidylserine (x 5.9) and sphingomyelin (x5.4). This second group of extracellular matrix-associated phospholipids constituted 68% of the demineralized lipid extract and, therefore, contributes to the mineralization of dental tissues.
