title: Patterning the size and number of tooth and its cusps.
abstract: Mice and rats, two species of rodents, show some dental similarities such as tooth number and cusp number, and differences such as tooth size and cusp size. In this study, the tooth size, tooth number, cusp size and cusp number, which are four major factors of the tooth patterning, were investigated by the heterospecific recombinations of tissues from the molar tooth germs of mice and rats. Our results suggest that the dental epithelium and mesenchyme determine the cusp size and tooth size respectively and the cusp number is co-regulated by the tooth size and cusp size. It is also suggested that the mesenchymal cell number regulates not the tooth size but the tooth number. The relationships among these factors in tooth patterning including micropatterning (cusp size and cusp number) and macropatterning (tooth size and tooth number) were analyzed in a reaction diffusion mechanism. Key molecules determining the patterning of teeth remains to be elucidated for controlling the tooth size and cusp size of bioengineered tooth.
authors.affiliation: Division in Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Department of Oral Biology, Research Center for Orofacial Hard Tissue Regeneration, Brain Korea 21 project, College of Dentistry, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-752, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jinglei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Sung-Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jae-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Min-Jung
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yoon-Geun
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Han-Sung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Jung
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D004848:Epithelium / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development; D008334:Mandible / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008963:Molar / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013045:Species Specificity; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development