Immunocharacterization of the atypical basal lamina at cell-tooth interfaces in laminin-332 deficient mice (LB548)

Unlike elsewhere in the body, the atypical basal lamina (BL) at epithelial-tooth interfaces must bind to mineral rather than connective tissue. Therefore, this BL has adapted by integrating specialized components. It is enriched in laminin-332 (Lm-332), and recently amelotin (AMTN), odontogenic ameloblast-associated (ODAM), and secretory calcium-binding phosphoprotein-proline-glutamine-rich 1 (SCPPPQ1), members of the SCPP gene family, have been identified as novel constituents. To explore how these three small molecular weight proteins participate in BL structure and mediate cell-mineral adhesion, we used a mouse model of Lm-332 deficiency, which expresses a doxycycline-controllable human Lm γ2 transgene under the cytokeratin 14 promoter on the Lm γ2 knockout background. Mandibles and maxillae from wild-type and Lm-332 deficient mice were paraffin-embedded and sections were immunostained for AMTN, ODAM, or SCPPPQ1. In the maturation stage of amelogenesis, all three proteins localized very discretely in t...