Quantitation of lactate dehydrogenase of developing molar teeth of the mouse.

Of the numerous enzymes existing in multiple molecular forms (isozymes), lactate dehydrogenase has been studied the most extensively. The studies include both clinical and biological investigations on a wide range of tissues and species.1-5 The role of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the glycolytic pathway is well known; that is, it mediates the transfer between lactic acid and pyruvate, using nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD +) as coenzyme. The isozymic patterns of LDH in certain tissues have been shown to be related to the development of those tissues.6-8 Information on the presence of this enzyme in the tooth, therefore, may provide an insight into the enzymatic mechanisms responsible for the morphologic and chemical changes occurring during the development of the tooth. Recent histochemical investigations9-12 have shown the presence of LDH in the tooth but do not give either quantitative information on the amount or information on the isozymic composition of the enzyme, or both. This study, therefore, was designed to determine the types and amounts of lactate dehydrogenase in developing mouse molars during dentinogenesis and amelogenesis.