[Dental lamina as presumptive source of odontogenic cyst]

The possibility of the dental lamina as a source of odontogenic cyst was investigated. The mandibular first molar tooth germs with the dental lamina and surface oral epithelium were cut from 17.5-day-old C3H mouse embryos. The following 5 kinds of grafts were prepared: (I) recombinant of the dental lamina and dental papilla, (II) dental lamina, (III) dental papilla, (IV) recombinant of the oral epithelium and dental papilla and (V) oral epithelium. After the renal subcapsular transplantation to the 3-month-old syngenic male mice, each graft was harvested at timed sequences from 2 to 24 weeks and was examined histopathologically. The recombinant of the dental lamina and dental papilla (1) grew into a cyst lined by para-keratinized stratified squamous epithelium. The cyst enlarged gradually and might be compared to the odontogenic keratocyst of the human being. The recombinant of the oral epithelium and dental papilla (IV) and the oral epithelium (V) developed into a cyst lined by orthokeratinized stratified squamous epithelium which differed from the epithelium seen in Experiment (I). The dental papilla (III) grew to be a bone tissue while nothing developed from the dental lamina (II). These results suggest that the dental lamina is one of the sources of the odontogenic keratocyst and the dental papilla plays an important role in its histogenesis.