Figure 1.

Expression profiles of enamel-related gene products (ERPs) correlated with post-natal calvarial development and MC3T3 cell mineralization. (A) Mouse calvariae visualized by Alcian blue/Alizarin Red S staining. The red staining in calvarial preparations represents developing calvarial mineralized tissues. ERP mRNA expression relative to endogenous control (β-actin) mRNA was detected at all stages of development and levels of most ERPs expression, with the exception of Ambn, gradually decreased with animal age (B). (C) Alizarin red in vitro mineralization assay illustrating stages of mineralization during MC3T3-E1 cell culture over a period of 42 days. (D) Time-course of ERP mRNA expression levels relative to β-actin in MC3T3-E1 cells as revealed by real-time RT-PCR. (E) Matched real-time RT-PCR analysis of bone marker mRNA expression levels relative to β-actin Amel- (A) and Ambn- (B) deficient mice in MC3T3-E1 cells.