... and mesenchymal stem cells in the proximal region of the tooth. Enamel, the hardest component of the tooth, is continuously deposited by stem cell-derived ameloblasts exclusively on the labial, or outer, surface of the tooth. The epithelial stem cells that are the ameloblast progenitors reside in structures...

..., regulation and function of the jagged 2 (Jag2) gene, which encodes a ligand for the Notch family of receptors, in developing mouse teeth. Jag2 is expressed in epithelial cells that give rise to the enamel-producing ameloblasts from the earliest stages of tooth development. Tissue recombination experiments...

... by the absence of enamel on one side of the incisor. Here we report that loss-of-function of sprouty genes, which encode antagonists of receptor tyrosine kinase signaling,leads to bilateral enamel deposition, thus impeding incisor abrasion and resulting in unchecked tooth elongation. We demonstrate that sprouty...

... processes. Dysregulated expression of uPA during organogenesis may be a cause of developmental defects. Targeted epithelial expression of a uPA-encoding transgene under the control of the keratin type-5 promoter resulted in enzyme production by the enamel epithelium, which does not normally express uPA...

...Thomas Diekwisch; Sasson David; Pablo Bringas, Jr.; Valentino Santos; Harold C. Slavkin ABSTRACT During tooth development, enamel organ epithelial cells express a tissue-specific gene product (amelogenin) which presumably functions to control calcium hydroxyapatite crystal growth patterns during...