Advances in Dental Research, Vol 3, 199-202, Copyright © 1989 by International & American Associations for Dental Research

ARTICLES

Enamel proteases in secretory and maturation enamel of rats ingesting 0 and 100 PPM fluoride in drinking water

P. K. DenBesten and L. M. Heffernan

Dental enamel formed during ingestion of high levels of fluoride in drinking water has an increased organic content in the maturation stage, which may be due to a delay in the breakdown of amelogenins during the early-maturation stage of enamel formation. This delay in the breakdown of amelogenins in fluorosed enamel suggests an effect of fluoride on enamel proteases which hydrolyze the early secreted enamel proteins. In this study, we compared the proteases present in fluorosed and control secretory-stage and maturation-stage enamel. Enamel was demineralized and separated in SDS gels containing 0.1% gelatin. After incubation in 100 mmol/L Tris-HCl, pH 8, with 10 mmol/L CaCl2, the gels were stained with Coomassie Blue, and proteases were seen as clear zones of degraded gelatin. Similar bands of proteolytic activity were seen in fluorosed and in control enamel. In the maturation stage, more proteases were present than in the secretory stage of enamel formation. Less digestion of gelatin substrate occurred in several proteases found in the fluorosed maturation-stage enamel as compared with the control maturation-stage enamel. This suggests that the amount of protease secreted or the activity of the proteases may be altered in fluorosed maturation-stage enamel.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Li THE BIOCHEMISTRYAND PHYSIOLOGYOF METALLIC FLUORIDE: ACTION, MECHANISM, AND IMPLICATIONS Crit. Rev. Oral. Biol. Med., March 1, 2003; 14(2): 100 - 114. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				C.K. Arquitt, C. Boyd, and J.T. Wright Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Regulator Gene (CFTR) is Associated with Abnormal Enamel Formation J. Dent. Res., July 1, 2002; 81(7): 492 - 496. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Aoba and O. Fejerskov DENTAL FLUOROSIS: CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY Crit. Rev. Oral. Biol. Med., March 1, 2002; 13(2): 155 - 170. [Abstract] [Full Text]