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Tooth enamel is one of the four major tissues that make up the tooth in humans and many other animals, including some species of fish. It makes up the normally visible part of the tooth, covering the crown. The other major tissues are dentin, cementum, and dental pulp. It is a very hard, white to off-white, highly mineralised substance that acts as a barrier to protect the tooth but can become susceptible to degradation, especially by acids from food and drink. Calcium hardens the tooth enamel. In rare circumstances enamel fails to form, leaving the underlying dentin exposed on the surface.
Serine proteases are enzymes that cleave peptide bonds in proteins. Serine serves as the nucleophilic amino acid at the (enzyme's) active site. They are found ubiquitously in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Serine proteases fall into two broad categories based on their structure: chymotrypsin-like (trypsin-like) or subtilisin-like.
Dentin or dentine is a calcified tissue of the body and, along with enamel, cementum, and pulp, is one of the four major components of teeth. It is usually covered by enamel on the crown and cementum on the root and surrounds the entire pulp. By volume, 45% of dentin consists of the mineral hydroxyapatite, 33% is organic material, and 22% is water. Yellow in appearance, it greatly affects the color of a tooth due to the translucency of enamel. Dentin, which is less mineralized and less brittle than enamel, is necessary for the support of enamel. Dentin rates approximately 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. There are two main characteristics which distinguish dentin from enamel: firstly, dentin forms throughout life; secondly, dentin is sensitive and can become hypersensitive to changes in temperature due to the sensory function of odontoblasts, especially when enamel recedes and dentin channels become exposed.
Digestive enzymes are a group of enzymes that break down polymeric macromolecules into their smaller building blocks, in order to facilitate their absorption by the body. Digestive enzymes are found in the digestive tracts of animals and in the tracts of carnivorous plants, where they aid in the digestion of food, as well as inside cells, especially in their lysosomes, where they function to maintain cellular survival. Digestive enzymes of diverse specificities are found in the saliva secreted by the salivary glands, in the secretions of cells lining the stomach, in the pancreatic juice secreted by pancreatic exocrine cells, and in the secretions of cells lining the small and large intestines.
Hyperphosphatemia is an electrolyte disorder in which there is an elevated level of phosphate in the blood. Most people have no symptoms while others develop calcium deposits in the soft tissue. Often there is also low calcium levels which can result in muscle spasms.
In biochemistry, dephosphorylation is the removal of a phosphate (PO43−) group from an organic compound by hydrolysis. It is a reversible post-translational modification. Dephosphorylation and its counterpart, phosphorylation, activate and deactivate enzymes by detaching or attaching phosphoric esters and anhydrides. A notable occurrence of dephosphorylation is the conversion of ATP to ADP and inorganic phosphate.
Amelogenesis is the formation of enamel on teeth and begins when the crown is forming during the advanced bell stage of tooth development after dentinogenesis forms a first layer of dentin. Dentin must be present for enamel to be formed. Ameloblasts must also be present for dentinogenesis to continue.
In embryology and prenatal development, the dental papilla is a condensation of ectomesenchymal cells called odontoblasts, seen in histologic sections of a developing tooth. It lies below a cellular aggregation known as the enamel organ. The dental papilla appears after 8–10 weeks intra uteral life. The dental papilla gives rise to the dentin and pulp of a tooth.
Dentinogenesis is the formation of dentin, a substance that forms the majority of teeth. Dentinogenesis is performed by odontoblasts, which are a special type of biological cell on the outer wall of dental pulps, and it begins at the late bell stage of a tooth development. The different stages of dentin formation after differentiation of the cell result in different types of dentin: mantle dentin, primary dentin, secondary dentin, and tertiary dentin.
The dental pellicle, or acquired pellicle, is a protein film that forms on the surface enamel, dentin, artificial crowns, and bridges by selective binding of glycoproteins from saliva that prevents continuous deposition of salivary calcium phosphate. It forms in seconds after a tooth is cleaned, or after chewing. It protects the tooth from the acids produced by oral microorganisms after consuming carbohydrates.
Stathmin, also known as metablastin and oncoprotein 18 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the STMN1 gene.
Nitrate reductases are molybdoenzymes that reduce nitrate to nitrite. This reaction is critical for the production of protein in most crop plants, as nitrate is the predominant source of nitrogen in fertilized soils.
Subtilisin is a protease initially obtained from Bacillus subtilis.
A serine/threonine protein kinase is a kinase enzyme that phosphorylates the OH group of serine or threonine. At least 125 of the 500+ human protein kinases are serine/threonine kinases (STK).
Dr. Anne George is a Professor of Oral Biology at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry and holds the Allan G. Brodie Endowed Professorship, and she also is an adjunct professor in the Department of Cell and Anatomy and the Department of Engineering at the University of Illinois Medical School. She has been a faculty member at Northwestern University in Chicago, where she was given a Teaching Excellence Award in 1999.
Dentin matrix acidic phosphoprotein 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the DMP1 gene.
Protein phosphorylation is a reversible post-translational modification of proteins in which an amino acid residue is phosphorylated by a protein kinase by the addition of a covalently bound phosphate group. Phosphorylation alters the structural conformation of a protein, causing it to become either activated or deactivated, or otherwise modifying its function. Approximately 13000 human proteins have sites that are phosphorylated.
Family with sequence similarity 20, member C also known as FAM20C or DMP4 is a protein which in humans is encoded by the FAM20C gene. Fam20C, a Golgi localized protein kinase, is a serine kinase that phosphorylates both casein and other highly acidic proteins and members of the small integrin-binding ligand, the N-linked glycoproteins (SIBLING) family at the target motif SerXGlu.
Dentin sialophosphoprotein is a precursor protein for other proteins found in the teeth. It is produced by cells (odontoblasts) inside the teeth, and in smaller quantities by bone tissues. It is required for normal hardening (mineralisation) of teeth. During teeth development, it is broken down into three proteins such as dentin sialoprotein (DSP), dentin glycoprotein (DGP), and dentin phosphoprotein (DPP). These proteins become the major non-collagenous components of teeth. Their distribution in the collagen matrix of the forming dentin suggests these proteins play an important role in the regulation of mineral deposition. Additional evidence for this correlation is phenotypically manifested in patients with mutant forms of dentin sialophosphoprotein. Such patients suffer dental anomalies including type III dentinogenesis imperfecta.
Hard tissue is tissue which is mineralized and has a firm intercellular matrix. The hard tissues of humans are bone, tooth enamel, dentin, and cementum. The term is in contrast to soft tissue.
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