Cell Culture Systems for Studies of Bone and Tooth Mineralization

The characterization of bone and tooth mineralization has advanced significantly. This can be attributed to the use of cell culture and developments in genetically engineered animals with altered bone and tooth phenotypes. Cell culture systems work by racapitulating the events in the development of the tissue in situ and have the goal of forming an analog of the naturally occurring tissue. The mineralized tissue formed in culture should closely match with that which exists in nature. It means that for bone, dentin, and cementum, hydroxypatite mineral crystals should be found oriented with respect to the axes of the collagen fibrils. This in turn mandates that the cultures be examined in some way that will reveal this orientation.