| Budget Amount *help |
¥7,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥7,600,000)
Fiscal Year 1996: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Fiscal Year 1995: ¥6,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥6,400,000)
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| Research Abstract |
BMP inductive signals may be implicated in the tooth development and repair, and our previous data has shown fifteen different members of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily, TGF-beta1, TGF-beta2, TGF-beta3, inhibin/activinbetaA,inhibin/activin betaB,BMP-2, BMP-4, BMP-6, BMP-7, BMP-8, GDF-1, GDF-5, GDF-6, GDF-7 and GDNF are expressed in rat incisor pulp. We have further identified new members of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily from rat incisor pulp and designated dentin morphogenetic protein (DMP)-62 and 63. A degenerate primer set derived from the highly conserved carboxy-terminal region of TGF-beta superfamily was used for RT-PCR with poly (A)^+ RNA from the rat incisor pulp as template. The mature carboxyl-terminal domain of DMP-62 and DMP-63 are 44% identical to rat vgr-1 and 46% identical to human inhibin/activin betaB respectively. DMP-63 also shows significant homology to inhibin/activin betaB (approximately 25% amino acid sequence identity) in the pro-region of the molecules. Northern blot analyzes showed that DMP-63 is predominantly expressed in dental pulp and brain. In situ hybridization of sections from rat incisor pulp tissue showed that DMP-63 was predomonantly expressed at the stage of preodontoblasts and odontoblasts just before and after mineralization, suggesting a potential role for DMP-63 in tooth development and repair.
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