Epithelial cell lines in the field of dental research: Review

The interaction between the epithelium and mesenchyme induces specific molecular and cellular changes that lead to organogenesis. These interactions are particularly crucial during the initiation of the development of ectodermal organs, such as teeth, skin, hair, and mammary and prostate glands. The oral epithelium provides the initial signaling for neuronal crest-derived ectomesenchyme development, and then both tissues interact during tooth formation. Various transcription factors, growth factors, and extracellular matrices are expressed by enamel matrix-producing ameloblasts during tooth development. Dental epithelium was lost after tooth eruption in human. To analysis of dental cell proliferation and differentiation, we should use the dental epithelial cells from tooth germ, for example third molar, supernumerary tooth or continuous erupting rodent incisor. However, primary culture of dental epithelium has a limited number of cells and passage times. Because of these reasons, cell lines from dental tissue are useful to clear the molecular mechanism of these processes. Here we introduce cell lines from dental tissues, especially dental epithelium.