Tissue Engineering Teeth
P.T. Sharpe
Department of Craniofacial Development, Dental Institute, Kings College London, London, UK
Most organs start their development in the early embryo from
interactions between epithelial and mesenchymal cells. The nature of
the signalling pathways and their downstream targets that mediate these
interactions are increasingly well-understood. Mammalian teeth develop
from a reciprocal series of interactions between embryonic oral
epithelium and neural crest-derived mesenchyme. The first instructive
signals come from the epithelial cells which act to initiate the tooth
forming process and to regulate the temporo-spatial expression of
transcription factor genes in the mesenchyme. These spatial domains of
mesenchymal gene expression provide the positional information that
determines the eventual shape of the tooth (molar, incisor etc.). By
understanding the key genetic interactions that function early in tooth
development in the embryo, together with the properties of the
epithelial and mesenchymal cells required for them to participate in
odontogenesis, stem cell-based tissue engineering approaches can be
developed to recreate early embryonic tooth rudiments that can form the
basis for use in humans to replace missing or damaged teeth.
Key words:
stem cells, teeth, tissue engineering
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