Current strategies for jaw reconstruction require multiple procedures, to repair the bone defect, to offer sufficient support, and to place the tooth implant. The entire procedure can be painful and time-consuming, and the desired functional repair can be achieved only when both steps are successful. The ability to engineer combined tooth and bone constructs, which would grow in a coordinated f...

Biglycan and decorin are small leucine-rich proteoglycans that play several biological and structural roles in different tissues and organs. Several reports have indicated that biglycan participates in odontoblast and ameloblast differentiation and in the calcification process. In the present study we show that the expression of biglycan changes from within the ameloblasts and odontoblasts to t...

Familial hypophosphatemic rickets is transmitted in most cases as an X-linked dominant trait and results from the mutation of the PHEX gene predominantly expressed in osteoblast and odontoblast. Patients with rickets have been reported to display important dentin defects. Our purpose was to explore the structure, composition and distribution of noncollagenous proteins (NCPs) of hypophosphatemic...

Gap junctions are composed of transmembrane proteins belonging to the connexin family. These proteins permit the exchange of mall regulatory molecules directly between cells for the control of growth, development and differentiation. Although the presence of gap junctions in teeth has been already evidenced, the involved connexins have not yet been identified in human species. Here, we examined...

Granulin epithelin precursor (GEP) is a new growth factor that functions in brain development, chondrogenesis, tissue regeneration, tumorigenesis, and inflammation. The goal of this study was to study whether GEP was critical for odontogenesis and amelogenesis both in vivo and in vitro. The in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry data showed that GEP was expressed in both odontoblast and...

We have previously shown that PKD1, the gene encoding Polycystin-1 (or TRPP1) is expressed in human odontoblasts and that this protein is localized at the primary cilium of the cell. Nevertheless, its function remain unclear in this cell even if studies on osteoblasts, osteocytes and chondrocytes give TRPP1 as a promising candidate for mechanotransduction in response to mechanical stress. Conse...