Abstract
Rodent mandibular incisors have a unique anatomical structure that allows teeth to grow throughout the lifetime of the rodent. This report presents a novel transplantation technique for studying the apical bud differentiation of rodent mandibular incisors. Incisal apical end tissue with green fluorescent protein from transgenic mouse was transplanted to wild type mice, and the development of the transplanted cells were immunohistologically observed for 12 weeks after the transplantation. Results indicate that the green fluorescent apical end tissue replaced the original tissue, and cells from the apical bud differentiated and extended toward the incisal edge direction. The immunostaining with podoplanin also showed that the characteristics of the green fluorescent tissue were identical to those of the original. The green fluorescent cells were only found in the labial side of the incisor up to 4 weeks. After 12 weeks, however, they were also found in the lingual side. Here the green fluorescent cementocyte-like cells were only present in the cementum close to the dentin surface. This study suggests that some of the cells that form the cellular cementum come from the apical tissue including the apical bud in rodent incisors.
Highlights
Rodent maxillary and mandibular incisors have unique anatomical structures that allow the teeth to grow throughout the lifetime of the animal
The green fluorescent cells were only present at the labial half of the mandibular incisor, and green fluorescence was observed in ameloblasts, odontoblasts, and in the dental pulp cells
To establish an experimental model suitable for studying details of tooth development, we have focused on the mouse incisor that grows throughout the lifetime of mice
Summary
Rodent maxillary and mandibular incisors have unique anatomical structures that allow the teeth to grow throughout the lifetime of the animal. There is enamel structure formed on the labial side and periodontal ligament in the lingual side. In the most apical part of the incisor, there is a specialized epithelial cell group termed an apical bud, which was originally termed as a labial cervical loop [1,2,3]. It has been shown that pluripotent cells and stem cell niches are present in the apical bud as well as in nails and hair follicles [4,5]. The apical bud is regarded as an analog of the cervical loop of mouse molars and human teeth in the developmental stage.
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