Moradian-Oldak J, Iijima M, Bouropoulos N, Wen H B
Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033, USA.
Connect Tissue Res. 2003;44 Suppl 1:58-64.
The formation of enamel apatite crystals involves extracellular molecular events among which matrix assembly, interactions with growing crystals, and protein processing and removal are the subject of numerous investigations. Following the description of amelogenin nanospheres and the evidence for their presence in vivo as the principal structural component of developing dental enamel, we have focused our studies on investigating at the molecular level the process of nanosphere assembly and evaluating the effects of amelogenin on crystal growth and morphology. This paper is a short review of our recent studies with a focus on the assembly of amelogenin proteolytic products and their modulating effect on octacalcium phosphate (OCP) crystal morphology. In addition, we report that incorporation of amelogenins into 10% gelatin gel does not affect diffusion of calcium. This remarkable finding indicates that the observed modulation effect by amelogenin on OCP crystal morphology is not due to alteration of calcium diffusion into the gels but is the result of direct amelogenin-mineral interactions.
牙釉质磷灰石晶体的形成涉及细胞外分子事件，其中基质组装、与生长晶体的相互作用以及蛋白质加工和去除是众多研究的主题。在描述了牙釉蛋白纳米球及其作为发育中牙釉质主要结构成分在体内存在的证据之后，我们将研究重点放在分子水平上研究纳米球组装过程，并评估牙釉蛋白对晶体生长和形态的影响。本文是对我们近期研究的简要综述，重点关注牙釉蛋白水解产物的组装及其对磷酸八钙（OCP）晶体形态的调节作用。此外，我们报告将牙釉蛋白掺入10%明胶凝胶中不会影响钙的扩散。这一显著发现表明，观察到的牙釉蛋白对OCP晶体形态的调节作用不是由于钙扩散到凝胶中的改变，而是牙釉蛋白与矿物质直接相互作用的结果。
