Effect of warfarin on early rat tooth development.

Rat pups were treated from birth to 5 days of age with the vitamin K antagonist warfarin in order to investigate possible functions of the vitamin K-dependent dentin Gla protein (DGP) in tooth development. Warfarin completely eliminated the immunocytochemically detectable DGP which is a prominent feature of dentin in control rat pups, and also caused an increased concentration of DGP in odontoblasts. Warfarin treatment did not affect the ultrastructure of cells or the extracellular matrix in the tooth germs. The width of the predentin layer, which is considered to be correlated with the rate of mineralization, was unchanged. These results are the first to demonstrate that warfarin treatment prevents the accumulation of DGP in dentin, and that the deposition of DGP has no influence on the overall rate of dentin matrix mineralization in tooth germs.