title: Weaker dental enamel explains dental decay.
abstract: Dental caries continues to be the most prevalent bacteria-mediated non-contagious disease of humankind. Dental professionals assert the disease can be explained by poor oral hygiene and a diet rich in sugars but this does not account for caries free individuals exposed to the same risk factors. In order to test the hypothesis that amount of amelogenin during enamel development can influence caries susceptibility, we generated multiple strains of mice with varying levels of available amelogenin during dental development. Mechanical tests showed that dental enamel developed with less amelogenin is "weaker" while the dental enamel of animals over-expressing amelogenin appears to be more resistant to acid dissolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Alexandre R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Carolyn W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deeley
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States of America; Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000143:Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D000566:Amelogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D000567:Amelogenesis Imperfecta / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics; D053523:Amelogenin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000209:etiology*; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects; D003744:Dental Enamel Hypoplasia / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics; D003745:Dental Enamel Permeability; D003747:Dental Enamel Solubility; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006244:Hardness; D006245:Hardness Tests; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D017001:Tooth Demineralization / Q000139:chemically induced
chemical_list: D000143:Acids; D053523:Amelogenin; C507200:Amelx protein, mouse