Relationship between blood vessels in stellate reticulum and microenvironmental change in ameloblasts differentiation

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26462794
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Morphological basic dentistry
• Research Institution: Iwate Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Otsu Keishi 岩手医科大学, 歯学部, 講師 (60509066)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 歯 / エナメル芽細胞 / 低酸素 / Rhoシグナリング / 血管新生

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to clarify how the tissue oxygen concentration varying with the blood vessel distribution regulates ameloblasts differentiation. Experiments using transgenic mice and dental epithelial cell lines revealed that undifferentiated dental epithelial cells were under more hypoxic condition, and relied more on glycolysis to generate energy compared to differentiated ameloblasts. Further, RhoA activity and stem cell marker expression in dental epithelial cells　depended on oxygen concentration. Together, these results demonstrated that tissue oxygen concentration controled the dental epithelial cell differentiation through RhoA signaling and cellular energy metabolism.

Free Research Field

口腔組織・発生学