| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
Fiscal Year 1989: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1988: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
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| Research Abstract |
In the first year of the project term, we developed in situ hydridization method which is an indispensable method of this project. It took one year to obtain satisfactory results. We published the method in "Radioisotopes" in 1989. Then, we started to investigate expression patterns of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) gene during tooth development. unfortunately, we heard that Dr. Slavkin of South California University was going to publish the results what we intend to obtain. Thus, we decided to proceed our project. What we interested in next was what controls the expression of the EGF gene. Since it is likely that One of the candidates is retinoic acid, we investigated the expression pattern of its receptor (RAR). As results, we found that (1) RARalpha gene is expression in tissue of the mouse embryos at any time rather weakly. Thus, the gene may be a house-keeping gene. (2) RARbeta gene is expressed in the dorsal side of the spinal cord and face of the embryo (10-13 day old) including tooth. Furthermore, the expression is closely related to development of the sensory organs such as nose, ear, eye, and also to programmed cell death. (3) RARgamma gene is expressed in the cells which become cartilages, bones, or teeth. Furthermore. the gene expression is closely related to the development and differentiation of skin.
From these results, we concluded that RA plays important roles in development of tooth including incisors. Since the expression pattern of the RAR genes resembles to that of the EGF genes, the expression of the EGF genes may be controlled by the RAR-RA complexes.
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