Morphology of the enamel organ in the miniature swine

Abstract

In recent years, the dentition of the pig has been increasingly used as a model for the study of amelogenesis. Indeed, much of our current knowledge on enamel formation derives from biochemical and physicochemical analyses of the organic and inorganic components, respectively, of porcine enamel. As an extension of this previous work, and as the first step in our attempt to correlate known enamel matrix and mineral changes with adjacent enamel organ morphology, the present study was undertaken to provide a description of the morphological events occurring in the enamel organ during porcine amelogenesis. Two-week-old miniature swine (minipigs) were fixed by vascular perfusion with glutaraldehyde, the deciduous teeth present at this age were embedded in Epon resin and sectioned, and the cells of the enamel organ at each of the various developmental stages of amelogenesis were examined by light and transmission electron microscopy. In many respects, the morphology of the porcine enamel organ was similar to that previously described in other mammalian species. On the other hand, several particularities were noted and these are discussed in the context of available data correlating cell ultrastructure with putative function during enamel formation.