Abstract
Teeth are vertebrate organs that arise from complex and progressive interactions between an ectoderm, the oral epithelium and an underlying mesenchyme. During their early development, tooth germs exhibit many morphological and molecular similarities with other developing epithelial appendages, such as hair follicles, mammary and salivary glands, lungs, kidneys, etc. The developing mouse tooth germ, which is an experimentally accessible model for organogenesis, provides a powerful tool for elucidating the molecular mechanisms that control the development of these organs. Dentition patterning also provides a unique model for understanding how different shapes of teeth arise in different regions of the jaws. We review here the main signalling networks mediating the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions involved in tooth morphogenesis and patterning.
MeSH terms
-
Animals
-
Body Patterning
-
Cell Differentiation
-
DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
-
Epithelial Cells / pathology
-
Fibroblast Growth Factors / metabolism
-
Genes, Tumor Suppressor
-
Homeodomain Proteins / metabolism
-
Humans
-
MSX1 Transcription Factor
-
Membrane Proteins*
-
Models, Biological
-
Neoplasm Proteins*
-
PAX9 Transcription Factor
-
Phosphoproteins / metabolism
-
Signal Transduction
-
Tissue Distribution
-
Tooth / embryology*
-
Tooth Abnormalities*
-
Tooth Germ / embryology*
-
Tooth Germ / growth & development*
-
Trans-Activators / metabolism
-
Transcription Factors / metabolism
-
Tumor Suppressor Proteins
Substances
-
CKAP4 protein, human
-
DNA-Binding Proteins
-
Homeodomain Proteins
-
MSX1 Transcription Factor
-
Membrane Proteins
-
Neoplasm Proteins
-
PAX9 Transcription Factor
-
PAX9 protein, human
-
Phosphoproteins
-
TP63 protein, human
-
Trans-Activators
-
Transcription Factors
-
Trp63 protein, mouse
-
Tumor Suppressor Proteins
-
Fibroblast Growth Factors