targeted overexpression of amelotin disrupts the microstructure of dental enamel定向超表达amelotin破坏牙釉质的微观结构.pdfVIP

Targeted Overexpression of Amelotin Disrupts the Microstructure of Dental Enamel 1 2 2 2 2 Rodrigo S. Lacruz , Yohei Nakayama , James Holcroft , Van Nguyen , Eszter Somogyi-Ganss , 1 3 1 2 Malcolm L. Snead , Shane N. White , Michael L. Paine , Bernhard Ganss * 1 School of Dentistry, Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America, 2 Matrix Dynamics Group, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 3 School of Dentistry, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America Abstract We have previously identified amelotin (AMTN) as a novel protein expressed predominantly during the late stages of dental enamel formation, but its role during amelogenesis remains to be determined. In this study we generated transgenic mice that produce AMTN under the amelogenin (Amel) gene promoter to study the effect of AMTN overexpression on enamel formation in vivo. The specific overexpression of AMTN in secretory stage ameloblasts was confirmed by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. The gross histological appearance of ameloblasts or supporting cellular structures as well as the expression of the enamel proteins amelogenin (AMEL) and ameloblastin (AMBN) was not altered by AMTN overexpression, suggesting that protein production, processing and secretion occurred normally in transgenic mice. The expression of Odontogenic, Ameloblast-Associated (ODAM) was slightly increased in secretory stage ameloblasts of transgenic animals. The enamel in AMTN-overexpressing mice was much thinner and displayed a highly irre