Sodium/(calcium + potassium) exchanger NCKX4 optimizes KLK4 activity in the enamel matrix microenvironment to regulate ECM modeling.

ABSTRACT: Enamel development is a process in which extracellular matrix models from a soft proteinaceous matrix to the most mineralized tissue in vertebrates. Patients with mutant NCKX4, a gene encoding a K⁺-dependent Na⁺/Ca²⁺-exchanger, develop a hypomineralized and hypomature enamel. How NCKX4 regulates enamel protein removal to achieve an almost protein-free enamel is unknown. We characterized the upregulation pattern of Nckx4 in the progressively differentiating enamel-forming ameloblasts by qPCR, and as well as confirmed NCKX4 protein to primarily localize at the apical surface of wild-type ruffle-ended maturation ameloblasts by immunostaining of the continuously growing mouse incisors, posing the entire developmental trajectory of enamel. In contr

SUBMITTER: Chan B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9939835 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature