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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Accessing the Cytotoxicity and Cell Response to Biomaterials
Published on: July 8, 2021
Genetic evidence for key roles of decorin and biglycan in dentin mineralization
Naoto Haruyama1, Taduru L Sreenath, Shigeki Suzuki
1Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Abstract:
Targeted disruption of the dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) gene in the mice (Dspp(-/-)) results in dentin mineralization defects with enlarged predentin phenotype similar to human dentinogenesis imperfecta type III. Using DSPP/biglycan (Dspp(-/-)Bgn(-/0)) and DSPP/decorin (Dspp(-/-)Dcn(-/-)) double knockout mice, here we determined that the enlarged predentin layer in Dspp(-/-) teeth is rescued in the absence of decorin, but not in the absence of biglycan. However, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis reveals similar hypomineralization of dentin in both Dspp(-/-)Bgn(-/0) and Dspp(-/-)Dcn(-/-) teeth. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis of collagen fibrils in dentin shows subtle differences in the collagen fibril morphology in these genotypes. The reduction of enlarged predentin in Dspp(-/-)Dcn(-/-) mice suggests that the elevated level of decorin in Dspp(-/-) predentin interferes with the mineralization process at the dentin mineralization front. On the other hand, the lack of DSPP and biglycan leads to the increased number of calcospherites in Dspp(-/-)Bgn(-/0) predentin, suggesting that a failure in coalescence of calcospherites was augmented in Dspp(-/-)Bgn(-/0) teeth as compared to Dspp(-/-) teeth. These findings indicate that normal expression of small leucine rich proteoglycans, such as biglycan and decorin, plays an important role in the highly orchestrated process of dentin mineralization.
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