Developmental movements of the inner enamel epithelium as derived from micromorphological features (original) (raw)
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Basis of the structure and development of mammalian enamel as seen by scanning electron microscopy
Scanning microscopy, 1988
Mature enamel is the most mineralized of mammalian tissues, contains the least water and therefore does not present problems of shrinkage on preparation for SEM. However, the developing enamel is highly hydrated and presents severe problems in preparation. The structure of enamel is determined by the activity of its individual formative cells and their group behaviour. The peculiar, unequal secretion of matrix at the distal pole of the ameloblast leads to the presence of characteristically shaped pits in the surface of the formative tissue. Crystals grow in a special relationship to this surface. Sharp changes in orientation of the surface are reflected in abrupt changes in orientation of neighbouring crystals beneath it, leading to the formation of structural discontinuities at prism boundaries or junctions. Several different patterns of prism cross section have arisen in mammalian enamel. Inequalities in the rate of production of the tissue lead to the formation of features known ...
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2008
We studied the abnormalities in enamel microstructure associated with enamel hypoplasia in human teeth from the early medieval (5th–7th century AD) cemetery of Barbing, Germany, using light and scanning electron microscopy. The main aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that by analyzing the microstructure of fully formed enamel it is possible to reconstruct the reaction pattern of secretory ameloblasts to stress events leading to enamel hypoplasia. From the histological findings, a sequence of increasing impairment of secretory ameloblast function involving three thresholds was deduced. Surpassing of each of these thresholds is assumed to result in characteristic changes in enamel microstructure attributable to specific functional/morphological alterations of secretory ameloblasts. Based on our results we propose a model identifying the principal factors influencing the reaction of secretory ameloblasts to stress. The present study demonstrates that by including microscopic analysis in the study of enamel hypoplasia, it is possible to obtain a more complete picture of the formation of these developmental defects than is possible by inspection of crown surface features alone, and to draw more substantiated conclusions about the possible nature of developmental defects of enamel. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Enamel mineralization in the absence of maturation stage ameloblasts
Archives of Oral Biology, 2009
The role of maturation stage ameloblasts is not clear yet. The aim of this study was to verify to which extent enamel mineralizes in the absence of these cells. Maturation stage ameloblasts and adjacent dental follicle cells from rat lower incisors were surgically removed and the limits of this removal were marked by notches made in the enamel. Histological analysis confirmed that the ameloblasts had been removed within the limits of the notches. The teeth erupted and when the notches appeared in the mouth, the enamel in the experimental teeth was hard but whitish compared to the yellowish colour of the contralateral incisors used as control. SEM images revealed similar enamel rod arrangement in both groups. Decreased mineral content was observed in some specimens by polarized light microscopy, and microhardness values were much lower in the experimental teeth. FTIR analysis showed that higher amounts of protein were found in most experimental teeth, compared with the control teeth. Enamel proteins could not be resolved on 15% SDS-PAGE gels, suggesting that most of them were below 5 kDa. These results suggest that the enamel matured in the absence of ameloblasts has increased protein content and a much lower mineral content, suggesting that maturation stage ameloblasts are essential for proper enamel mineralization.
Intercusp differences in enamel prism patterns in early and late stages of human tooth development
Archives of Oral Biology, 2000
Enamel prism-packing patterns reflect the past history of ameloblasts, providing information about growth patterns in tooth development. Here, the area and density of enamel prisms on the cuspal surface of molar teeth were measured to examine if the onset and rate of enamel apposition differ according to stage of development and/or cusp type. Scanning electron-microscopic images were taken from the mesiobuccal and distal cusp tips of 30 mandibular first permanent molars at different stages of development recovered from archaeological sites in Israel dating to the past 10 000 years. Selected enamel microstructural characters were measured for each cusp. The mean area of prisms on the mesiobuccal (MB) cusp was significantly larger than that of the distal (D) cusp at all stages of development and the differences in prism area between cusps were significant for each stage of development. Prism density was significantly smaller on the MB cusp than the D cusp at all stages of development but no significant differences were found between early and later stages in each cusp. This was interpreted as indicating that enamel formation in the MB cusp was almost complete, even in the earliest tooth germs studied, whereas in the D cusp it was less advanced. The differences between MB and D cusps are proposed to result from asynchrony of enamel formation between the different cusps of molar teeth in recent populations. The method provides a non-destructive approach to the study of growth patterns in teeth and provides baseline data for comparison with fossil teeth.
Cell Tissue Res, 1979
Maturation ameloblasts of developing molar teeth of the rat were studied by both scanning and transmission electron microscopy. After fixation, teeth were frozen and split. One face of the fractured tooth was used for SEM, the other for TEM. It was found that in some regions proximal junctional complexes separate the interameloblast space from the intercellular space of the papillary layer. Thereby an intercellular ameloblastic compartment is delineated which in some specimens contains a substance interpreted to be colloidal. Elsewhere the proximal junctions of ameloblasts are not present and free communication between the extracellular spaces is evident. The apical pole of ameloblasts varies in structure. Over some areas there is a distinct distal border zone with membranous infoldings which in some regions resembles a striated or ruffled border, but in other regions the membranes show whorl configurations. The distal border zone also contains granules with flocculent material. Elsewhere the ameloblasts display no distal border zone and the cells show a smooth membrane (except for pinocytotic vesicles and hemidesmosomes) facing the enamel surface. The lateral surface of ameloblasts exhibits a variety of surface configurations similar to but not as pronounced as those reported previously in rat incisor maturation ameloblasts.
The development of enamel structure in rat incisors as compared to the teeth of monkey and man
The Anatomical Record, 1981
The rat incisor is an excellent model system in which to study amelogenesis. However, the information obtained has not been extrapolated to the human because of alleged structural differences between the teeth. The obvious differences include continuous eruption in rat incisors and an enamel rod pattern in rats which seemingly differs from the keyhole pattern of human enamel. A comprehensive analysis was made of those features of enamel structure considered fundamental to the understanding of its formation. This was done by applying the knowledge of amelogenesis obtained in rat incisors to the teeth of monkey and man. The following points of basic similarity were established between these species: (1) Interrod enamel is secreted first. It forms the side walls of cavities which are initially occupied by Tomes' processes. (2) The formation of interrod cavities is followed by deposition of enamel rods within these spaces. (3) The rods conform to the shape of the cavities and are secreted from one surface of Tomes' process. (4) At the initial site of rod deposition its enamel is continuous with the interrod enamel wall. (5) Growth of the rod compresses the process to one side of the cavity resulting in an arcade-shaped "space" between the rod and the remaining interrod walls. This study demonstrates that it is no longer necessary to postulate a keyhole structure for primate enamel, and it has established that a fundamental similarity exists in the basic structure and in the mode of
Archives of Oral Biology, 1984
A method for estimating, from measurements made in ground sections of mature teeth, the rate at which enamel formation extends over the crown during tooth development is described and used to examine enamel formation in the human dentition. The enamel extension rate varied with distance from the cusp along the enamel-dentine junction in permanent teeth, falling from a high level near the cusp to a constant minimum value. The early rate was higher, and the distance over which the rate fell to the minimum greater, on tall cusps, In deciduous teeth, limited data suggested that the rate may be fairly constant over the crown surface. The mean extension rate was about five times greater in deciduous than in permanent teeth. A function describing a stretching effect on newly-differentiated ameloblasts, arising from th.e geometry of the advancing margin of forming enamel, and dependent in part on the extension rate, was derived. This effect might influence ameloblast secretory area and hence prism size. The stretching effect was significantly smaller in deciduous than in permanent teeth. In conformity with this, prism domain area, a quantity measured in mature enamel and based on the geometrical relationship between ameloblasts and prisms, was significantly smaller in deciduous than in permanent enamel.
Journal of Anatomy, 2006
We studied the relationship between the macroscopic appearance of hypoplastic defects in the dental enamel of wild boar and domestic pigs, and microstructural enamel changes, at both the light and the scanning electron microscopic levels. Deviations from normal enamel microstructure were used to reconstruct the functional and related morphological changes of the secretory ameloblasts caused by the action of stress factors during amelogenesis. The deduced reaction pattern of the secretory ameloblasts can be grouped in a sequence of increasingly severe impairments of cell function. The reactions ranged from a slight enhancement of the periodicity of enamel matrix secretion, over a temporary reduction in the amount of secreted enamel matrix, with reduction of the distal portion of the Tomes' process, to either a temporary or a definite cessation of matrix formation. The results demonstrate that analysis of structural changes in dental enamel allows a detailed reconstruction of the reaction of secretory ameloblasts to stress events, enabling an assessment of duration and intensity of these events.