Unit of Orofacial Development and Regeneration, Institute of Oral Biology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Methods Mol Biol. 2020;2155:99-106. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0655-1_8.
Innervation plays a key role in the development, homeostasis, and regeneration of organs and tissues. However, the mechanisms underlying these phenomena are not well understood yet. In particular, the role of innervation in tooth development and regeneration is neglected. Cocultures constitute a valuable method to investigate and manipulate the interactions between nerve fibers and teeth in a controlled and isolated environment. Microfluidic systems for allow cocultures of neurons and different cell types in their appropriate culture media, while permitting the passage of axons from one compartment to the other. Here we describe how to isolate and coculture developing trigeminal ganglia and tooth germs in a microfluidic coculture system. This protocol describes a simple and flexible way to coculture ganglia/nerves and their target tissues and to study the roles of specific molecules on such interactions in a controlled and isolated environment.
神经支配在器官和组织的发育、稳态和再生中起着关键作用。然而，这些现象背后的机制尚未得到很好的理解。特别是，神经支配在牙齿发育和再生中的作用被忽视了。共培养是一种有价值的方法，可以在受控和隔离的环境中研究和操纵神经纤维和牙齿之间的相互作用。微流控系统允许神经元和不同细胞类型在其适当的培养基中进行共培养，同时允许轴突从一个隔室传递到另一个隔室。在这里，我们描述了如何在微流控共培养系统中分离和共培养三叉神经节和牙胚。该方案描述了一种简单灵活的方法，可以共培养神经节/神经及其靶组织，并在受控和隔离的环境中研究特定分子在这种相互作用中的作用。
