摘要
It is well known that modern Aves Iack dentition,unlike their toothed ancestors ofthe Jurassic and cretaceous periods.However,in the chick oral cavity a rudiment forms thatresembles the lamina stage of the mammalian molar tooth germ.We have previously addressedthe molecular basis for this secondary loss of tooth formation in Aves by analyzing in chíckembryos the status of molecular pathways known to regulate mouse tooth development.In thisstudy,we further examined the moiecular pathways involved in positioning the site of toothrudinent.Similar te the mouse tooth germ,Pax9 serves as a marker for the presumptive dentalmesenchyme in the chick prior to any morphological manifestation of odontogenesis.Therestricted Pax9 expression in the chick mandibular mesenchyme is positioned by the two signalsfrom overlying oral epitheltum.FGF8 induces Pax9 expression while BMP4 prevents thisinduction.Thus it appears that,similar to that in tnice,the positíon of tooth rudiment in chickembryo is determined by two different types of signaling molecules with antagonistic sctiyity.These results further demonstrate that the early signaling pathways involved in odontogenesisremain inducible in Aves.
众所周知现代鸟类不长牙齿,而其侏罗纪和白垩纪的祖先则长有牙齿,然而,在发育中鸡胚口腔中却残留着牙齿发生的原基,在形态上与哺乳动物臼牙牙原基极为相似,现代鸟类的胚胎组织是否具有牙齿发育的潜能,目前已有不少研究者对这一问题进行了探讨,Kollar和Fisher等人将鸡胚胎下颌靠近口腔面的上皮与小鼠的牙间充质进行组织重组实验,并植入小鼠眼球中作intraocular grafting培养,他们的实验结果表明重组后的组织块可以发育形成牙齿的结构,包括形成成釉细胞(ameloblast),并能分泌釉质,Kollar等认为在进化进程中鸟类牙齿的消失并非由于口腔上皮中有关釉质合成的遗传信息的丢失,而是牙齿发育过程中的组织之间所必须的相互作用(次级诱导)受阻而造成的。Lemus和Fuenzalida等人的实验结果进一步证实了这一结论。他们用鹌鹑胚胎躯体的上皮组织与蜥蚁或兔子的牙间充质重组后,用鸡胚绒毛进行培养,得到了发育很好的牙齿结构,发现鹌鹑的上皮细胞也可以分形成釉质细胞,并分泌牙釉质,Cummings将鹌鹑胚胎的牙上皮组织与小鼠胚胎的牙间充质组织重组后也得到类似的结果。根据小白鼠牙齿发育中已知的调控分子信号通路,我们曾对鸟类不长牙齿的分子机制进行了研究,我们的研究发现鸟类牙组织仍保留与哺乳动物早期牙齿发生相类似的信号通路,能表达相关的基因并产生相应的信号分子,鸟类牙齿发育停滞在牙原基时期的可能原因是Bmp4不在预定牙上皮组织中表达,导致发育信号的传递受阻,因此,鸟类胚胎的牙原基组织是一个很好的实验模型,用于研究上皮与间充质组织之间的相互作用,导致器官发育的分子机制。在本研究中,我们又进一步对鸡胚发育中与牙原基定位的有关分子信号通路进行了研究,研究证实了,与小白鼠的发育相似,在鸡胚发育中,在任何可见的牙齿发生了形态变化出现之前,Pax9作为预定牙间充质的标记基因(Fig.1),利用体外器官培养,组织重组和原位杂交等方法,证实了Pax9在下颚间充质中的定位表达是由其上方上皮中的两种信号分子所决定(Fig.2),其中FGF8诱导Pax9的表达(Fig.3).而BMP4则抑制该表达(Fig.4)。通过这两种信号之间的诘抗作用决定了间充质中Pax9的表达部位,亦即牙原基的发生部位,因此,与小白鼠相似,在鸟类中牙原基的发生部位是由两类具有诘抗作用的信号分子所决定的,本研究结果进一步证实了在鸟类胚胎发育过程中仍保留与牙齿发育有关的早期信号通路。
基金
supported by National Natural Seienee Foundation of China,grant No.39970375
wasmitiated in Dr YiPing Chen's lab Im the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology,Tulane Universuty,NewOrleans.Louisiana.U$A.
