Histological distribution of phosphophoryn in normal and pathological human dentins

Dentin phosphophoryn is a highly phosphorylated protein which has a hydrophilic character but is not soluble in dilute acetic acid. A histochemical method was developed for staining this protein with Stains-all in situ utilizing those chemical properties. We have succeeded in detecting the presence of this protein in circumpulpal orthodentin of human permanent and deciduous teeth, but not in mantle dentin, secondary dentin and reparative dentin. Phosphophoryn staining was also absent in the dentin of dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI) Type II, a genetic disorder of dentin formation. From these results, it is suggested that phosphophoryn is synthesized and secreted only by physiologically-differentiated odontoblasts and that the mineralization processes of mantle, secondary, reparative and DI dentins may be different from that of circumpulpal orthodentin.