Regulations of size and shape of the bioengineered tooth by a cell manipulation method

Regulation of sizes and shapes of tooth are important matters to consider in generating an entirely bioengineered tooth for future tooth replacement therapy. In our current study, we investigated that whether an extent of contact area between epithelial and mesenchymal cell aggregates, which was reconstituted from embryonic day 14.5 molar tooth germ-derived single cells by our cell manipulation method, affect the morphology of the bioengineered tooth. Statistical analysis showed that there were reliable correlations between the contact length of bioengineered tooth germ and the crown widths (R=0.84), and the cusp numbers (R=0.85). These observations indicate that the crown widths and the cusp numbers of bioengineered molar were determined by the contact length between epithelial and mesenchymal cell layers. Our study results will provide important insights into the regulatory mechanisms of sizes and shapes of bioengineered tooth and the application of cell manipulation technology in future tooth replacement therapy.