Media type: E-Article Title: Alteration of the sialylation pattern of the murine tooth germ after ethanol exposure Contributor: Jiménez‐Farfán, Dolores; Guevara, Jorge; Zenteno, Edgar; Hernández‐Guerrero, Juan Carlos Published: Wiley, 2005 Published in: Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology, 73 (2005) 12, Seite 980-988 Language: English DOI: 10.1002/bdra.20198 ISSN: 1542-0752; 1542-0760 Keywords: Developmental Biology ; Embryology ; General Medicine ; Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health Origination: Footnote: Description: AbstractBACKGROUNDEthanol consumption during pregnancy leads to changes in murine dental morphogenesis, dental size, cellular differentiation, enamel mineralization, and delayed eruption. It has been proposed that glycoproteins play a role during embryonic dental development that may determine the dental morphological pattern and extracellular matrix secretion. O‐glycosylation and sialylation appear to actively participate in the differentiation and maturation processes. Because glycosylation may be affected by teratogens that can alter the maturation of several organisms, in this work we describe the main modifications of the sialylation pattern in prenatal day (PD) 18.5 murine tooth germs exposed to ethanol.METHODSPregnant female mice were divided into groups that were given 15% or 20% ethanol solutions, or water as a control. The histochemistry of tooth germs from PD 18.5 fetuses was revealed with lectins specific for sialic acid (Neu5Ac), such as Sambucus nigra (SNA), Maackia amurensis (MAA), and Machrobrachium rosenbergii (MRL), and for sialylated‐O‐glycosidically linked glycans, such as Amaranthus leucocarpus (ALL).RESULTSThe basement membrane, preameloblasts, inner‐enamel epithelium, preodontoblasts, and subodontoblastic cells of the test groups showed changes in labeling according to the 4 lectins used. Intranuclear staining was observed with SNA (specific for Neu5Acα2,6Gal/GalNAc) in the control group, but this was reduced in the test groups. The nuclei of dental papillary cells under the experimental conditions were stained with MAA (Neu5Acα2,3Gal).CONCLUSIONSDental development involves different types of sialylated O‐glycosidically linked glycans that are likely to regulate cell‐to‐cell and cell‐to‐matrix interactions. Our results suggest that ethanol consumption during pregnancy alters the sialylation pattern during murine dental morphogenesis. Birth Defects Research (Part A), 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.