title: Expression of dentine sialophosphoprotein in mouse nasal cartilage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dentine sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) was initially thought to be unique for dentine formation during tooth development, whilst recent reports have shown a much broader expression pattern such as in bone, periodontium and inner ear. Our goal was to explore its expression and potential impact during early nasal cartilage formation in comparison with tooth development.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated DSPP expression in the nasal cartilage by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation. We also cloned a 719bp partial DSPP cDNA from nasal cartilage and analysed its homology to the published mouse DSPP cDNA sequence. In addition, quantitative RT-PCR was undertaken to compare the expression pattern of DSPP in nasal cartilage and tooth germs during embryonic development.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression of DSPP in mouse nasal chondrocytes was detected using in situ hybridisation and immunohistochemical staining. The quantitative RT-PCR data showed that expression levels of DSPP in nasal cartilage are similar to that of tooth: low at E18, and increased during development with the peak level at P3. Furthermore, DSPP levels in nasal cartilage are lower than tooth but higher than bone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DSPP is expressed in nasal cartilage, and a similar temporal expression pattern in cartilage and tooth indicates the potential importance of DSPP during development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics, School of Stomatology, The Fourth Military Medical University, No. 145 Chang-Le Xi Road, Xi'an 710032, PR China. zr000ren@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Fa-Ming
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shou-Liang
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Ming-Zhen
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jian Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D055171:Nasal Cartilages / Q000378:metabolism*; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012795:Sialoglycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D000099311:Dentin Sialophosphoprotein
chemical_list: D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D012795:Sialoglycoproteins; D000099311:Dentin Sialophosphoprotein