Plasticity within the niche ensures the maintenance of a Sox2⁺ stem cell population in the mouse incisor.

ABSTRACT: In mice, the incisors grow throughout the animal's life, and this continuous renewal is driven by dental epithelial and mesenchymal stem cells. Sox2 is a principal marker of the epithelial stem cells that reside in the mouse incisor stem cell niche, called the labial cervical loop, but relatively little is known about the role of the Sox2⁺ stem cell population. In this study, we show that conditional deletion of Sox2 in the embryonic incisor epithelium leads to growth defects and impairment of ameloblast lineage commitment. Deletion of Sox2 specifically in Sox2⁺ cells during incisor renewal revealed cellular plasticity that leads to the relatively rapid restoration of a Sox2-expressing cell population. Furthermore, we show tha

SUBMITTER: Sanz-Navarro M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5825875 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature