Magloire Henry, Couble Marie-Lise, Thivichon-Prince Beatrice, Maurin Jean-Christophe, Bleicher Francoise
Laboratoire Odontoblast et régénération dentinaire, Université de Lyon, Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol. 2009 Jul 15;312B(5):416-24. doi: 10.1002/jez.b.21264.
Odontoblasts are organized as a single layer of specialized cells responsible for dentine formation and presumably for playing a role in tooth pain transmission. Each cell has an extension running into a dentinal tubule and bathing in the dentinal fluid. A dense network of sensory unmyelinated nerve fibers surrounds the cell bodies and processes. Thus, dentinal tubules subjected to external stimuli causing dentinal fluid movements and odontoblasts/nerve complex response may represent a unique mechano-sensory system giving to dentine-forming cells a pivotal role in signal transduction. Mediators of mechano-transduction identified in odontoblast include mechano-sensitive ion channels (high conductance calcium-activated potassium channel--K(Ca)--and a 2P domain potassium channel--TREK-1) and primary cilium. In many tissues, the latter is essential for microenvironment sensing but its role in the control of odontoblast behavior remains to be elucidated. Recent evidence for excitable properties and the concentration of key channels to the terminal web suggest that odontoblasts may operate as sensor cells.
成牙本质细胞排列成单层特殊细胞，负责牙本质形成，并可能在牙痛传导中发挥作用。每个细胞都有一个延伸部分伸入牙本质小管，并浸浴在牙本质液中。密集的无髓感觉神经纤维网络围绕着细胞体和突起。因此，受到外部刺激导致牙本质液流动以及成牙本质细胞/神经复合体产生反应的牙本质小管，可能代表了一种独特的机械感觉系统，赋予成牙本质细胞在信号转导中关键作用。在成牙本质细胞中鉴定出的机械转导介质包括机械敏感离子通道（高电导钙激活钾通道——K（Ca）——和一种2P结构域钾通道——TREK - 1）以及初级纤毛。在许多组织中，后者对于微环境感知至关重要，但其在控制成牙本质细胞行为方面的作用仍有待阐明。关于可兴奋特性以及关键通道集中于终末网的最新证据表明，成牙本质细胞可能作为感觉细胞发挥作用。
