The development of enamel tubules during the formation of enamel in the marsupial Monodelphis domestica.

In Monodelphis domestica, although both processes from odontoblasts and projections from ameloblasts were found in developing enamel, the majority of the contents of enamel tubules were probably processes that originated from odontoblasts. Processes from odontoblasts penetrating into enamel touched part of the ameloblasts in the stage of enamel formation. No specialised cell junctions were seen at the adherence between the two. There were no enamel tubules in the aprismatic and pseudoprismatic enamel layer. It is likely that enamel tubules exist only in prismatic enamel. The majority of enamel tubules seemed to contain no cell processes in the stage of enamel maturation, indicating that the cell processes in the tubules probably degenerate after the stage of enamel formation.