Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Department of Developmental Biology, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Jun 23;21(12):4458. doi: 10.3390/ijms21124458.
Tooth enamel is the outer covering of tooth crowns, the hardest material in the mammalian body, yet fracture resistant. The extremely high content of 95 wt% calcium phosphate in healthy adult teeth is achieved through mineralization of a proteinaceous matrix that changes in abundance and composition. Enamel-specific proteins and proteases are known to be critical for proper enamel formation. Recent proteomics analyses revealed many other proteins with their roles in enamel formation yet to be unraveled. Although the exact protein composition of healthy tooth enamel is still unknown, it is apparent that compromised enamel deviates in amount and composition of its organic material. Why these differences affect both the mineralization process before tooth eruption and the properties of erupted teeth will become apparent as proteomics protocols are adjusted to the variability between species, tooth size, sample size and ephemeral organic content of forming teeth. This review summarizes the current knowledge and published proteomics data of healthy and diseased tooth enamel, including advancements in forensic applications and disease models in animals. A summary and discussion of the status quo highlights how recent proteomics findings advance our understating of the complexity and temporal changes of extracellular matrix composition during tooth enamel formation.
牙釉质是牙冠的外层覆盖物，是哺乳动物体内最坚硬的物质，但具有抗断裂能力。健康成年牙齿中极高的 95wt%的磷酸钙含量是通过蛋白质基质的矿化实现的，该基质的丰度和组成发生变化。已知釉质特有的蛋白质和蛋白酶对于正常的牙釉质形成至关重要。最近的蛋白质组学分析揭示了许多其他在牙釉质形成中具有作用的蛋白质，但其作用仍有待揭示。尽管健康牙釉质的确切蛋白质组成仍不清楚，但显然，受损的牙釉质在其有机物质的含量和组成上存在差异。为什么这些差异会影响牙齿萌出前的矿化过程以及萌出牙齿的特性，随着蛋白质组学方案适应物种间、牙齿大小、样本大小和形成牙齿短暂有机含量的变化，这一点将变得明显。本文综述了健康和患病牙釉质的现有知识和已发表的蛋白质组学数据，包括法医学应用和动物疾病模型的进展。对现状的总结和讨论突出了最近的蛋白质组学发现如何提高我们对牙釉质形成过程中外层基质组成的复杂性和时间变化的理解。
