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Isolation and Culture of Dental Epithelial Stem Cells from the Adult Mouse Incisor
Published on: May 1, 2014
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The Grooved Rodent Incisor Recapitulates Rudimentary Teeth Characteristics of Ancestral Mammals
1Division in Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Department of Oral Biology, Oral Science Research Center, BK21 PLUS Project, Yonsei University College of Dentistry, Seoul, Korea.
Journal of Dental Research
|February 26, 2016
Summary
Evolutionary reduction in mammalian incisors may involve vestigial dental primordia. Manipulating early gerbil incisor development can recreate diverse incisor patterns, revealing mechanisms of evolutionary change.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Paleontology
Background:
- Eutherian mammal evolution shows reduced incisor numbers.
- Vestigial incisors may persist in embryonic stages.
- Understanding incisor pattern evolution requires studying developmental mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the presence of vestigial dental primordia in gerbil incisors.
- Explore the developmental basis for diverse incisor phenotypes observed in mammalian evolution.
- Elucidate the integration of dental primordia during incisor development.
Main Methods:
- Ex vivo culture of gerbil incisor tooth germs at different developmental stages (bud and cap).
- Surgical manipulation (trimming mesenchyme, minute tooth, and lateral rudiment) of developing incisors.
- Observation and analysis of resulting incisor phenotypes.
Main Results:
- Early manipulation of gerbil incisor germs yielded varied phenotypes, including triplicated, duplicated, and Lagomorpha-like incisors.
- A minute tooth and specific epithelial/mesenchymal interactions were observed in early development, suggesting vestigial primordia.
- Later stage manipulation (cap stage) resulted in normal grooved incisors, indicating a critical integration period before this stage.
Conclusions:
- Mammalian incisor evolution and adult morphology arise from the differential integration of multiple dental primordia.
- Vestigial dental structures and their integration dynamics are key to understanding evolutionary phenotypic transitions.
- The minute tooth may play a role in groove formation, and labial primordia contribute to the incisor's labial face.
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