Roles of gap junction proteins in odontoblast differentiation

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In this project, we had performed bioinformatical analysis to find the responsible gene which regulate odontoblast differentiation. We had found that pannexin3, a new member of gap junction protein, pannexin family, was preferentially expressed in tooth cDNA library. In fact, in situ hybridization and immunostaining revealed that pannexin3 was expressed in preoodontoblast layer. To analyze the function of pannexin3 in odontoblast, mDP cell, a mouse dental papilla derived cell line, was used in this study. We found that pannexin3 regulate cell proliferation and differentiation by releasing intracellular ATP and activating AMPK signaling.