The amelogenins comprise 90% of the developing extracellular enamel matrix proteins and play a major role in the biomineralization and structural organization of enamel. Amelogenins were also detected, in smaller amounts, in postnatal calcifying mesenchymal tissues, and in several nonmineralizing tissues including brain. Low molecular mass amelogenin isoforms were suggested to have signaling ac...

Epithelially-derived ameloblasts secrete extracellular matrix proteins including amelogenin, enamelin, and ameloblastin. Complex intermolecular interactions among these proteins are believed to be important in controlling enamel formation. Here we provide in vitro and in vivo evidence of co-assembly and co-localization of ameloblastin with amelogenin using both biophysical and immunohistochemic...

Mice lacking amelogenin (KO) have hypoplastic enamel. Overexpression of the most abundant amelogenin splice variant M180 and LRAP transgenes can substantially improve KO enamel, but only ~40% of the incisor thickness is recovered and the prisms are not as tightly woven as in WT enamel. This implies that the compositional complexity of the enamel matrix is required for different aspects of ename...

How did we humans (and other vertebrates) get our sparkling smiles? The hard white coating on our teeth, the enamel, is made up of hydroxyapatite—the same mineral that forms our bones. In our teeth, hydroxyapatite is organized into parallel arrays of columnar apatite crystals called prisms. The growth and organization of enamel prisms is controlled by special proteins secreted by cells known as...

Regenerative dental therapies for bone tissues rely on efficient targeting of endogenous and transplanted mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to guide bone formation. Amelogenin is the primary component of Emdogain, which is used to regenerate periodontal defects; however, the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects on alveolar bone remain unclear. The tetracycline (Tet)-dependent transcription...

The aim of this study was to clarify the function of amelogenin, the major protein of enamel matrix derivative, on the proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization of cultured rat bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs), toward the establishment of future bone regenerative therapies. No differences in the morphology of BMSCs or in cell numbers were found between amelogenin addition and additive-fr...

Even during the secretory stage of amelogenesis, enamel crystals thicken as amelogenins (the major protein component) decrease. To explain this phenomenon, we propose a model for amelogenin structure and function based upon the hypothesis that amelogenin forms micelles. Solubility and hydrophobicity analyses suggest that all but the hydrophilic amelogenin C-terminal regions aggregate via hydrop...

Dental enamel is a bio-ceramic formed through a cascade of intra and extra-cellular events among which protein self-assembly is a critical step. Amelogenin selfassembly into nanospheres has been proposed as a key factor in controlling the oriented and elongated growth of enamel crystals. This manuscript is a short review of our recent in vitro study on the process of amelogenin selfassembly int...

The study of teeth reveals a lot concerning forensic medicine. Particularly it is useful in human identification. In addition to determination of age, sex can also be determined from teeth. The genetic difference between males and females is defined by the presence or absence of the Y-chromosome. The majority of the DNA of the sex chromosomes is specific to either the X or Y form. There are reg...