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The application of bone morphogenetic proteins to dental tissue engineering

Nature Biotechnology volume 21, pages 1025–1032 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Progress in understanding the role of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in craniofacial and tooth development, the demonstration of stem cells in dental pulp and accumulating knowledge on biomaterial scaffolds have set the stage for tissue engineering and regenerative therapy of the craniofacial complex. Furthermore, the recent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA; Rockville, MD, USA) of recombinant human BMPs for accelerating bone fusion in slow-healing fractures indicates that this protein family may prove useful in designing regenerative treatments in dental applications. In the near term, these advances are likely to be applied to endodontics and periodontal surgery; ultimately, they may facilitate approaches to regenerating whole teeth for use in tooth replacement.

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Figure 1: Reciprocal and reiterative signaling during tooth morphogenesis.
Figure 2: Craniofacial structures and treatments.
Figure 3: BMP and TGFβ signaling ligands, receptors and transcription.
Figure 4: The three key elements for dental tissue engineering are signals for morphogenesis, progenitor/stem cells, and scaffolds of extracellular matrix components.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education (Japan), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant no. 1RO1 AR47345 and the Lawrence Ellison Chair in Musculoskeletal Molecular Biology. We thank Rita Rowlands for enthusiastic help. We thank Tim Moseley and K. Iohara for excellent help with illustrations.

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  1. Faculty of Dental Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812–8582, Japan

    Misako Nakashima

  2. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Center for Tissue Regeneration and Repair, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, 95817, California, USA

    A Hari Reddi

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Correspondence to A Hari Reddi.

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Nakashima, M., Reddi, A. The application of bone morphogenetic proteins to dental tissue engineering. Nat Biotechnol 21, 1025–1032 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt864

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