U. Ripamonti et Ah. Reddi, TISSUE ENGINEERING, MORPHOGENESIS, AND REGENERATION OF THE PERIODONTAL TISSUES BY BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEINS, Critical reviews in oral biology and medicine, 8(2), 1997, pp. 154-163
Tissue engineering is the emerging field of science developing techniq
ues for fabrication of new tissues for replacement based on principles
of cell and developmental biology and biomaterials. Morphogenesis is
the cascade of pattern formation and the attainment of form of the var
ious organs and the organism as a whole. The periodontium consists of
the periodontal ligament, cementum, and alveolar bone. Bone has consid
erable potential for regeneration and therefore is a prototypic model
for tissue engineering. The three main ingredients for tissue engineer
ing are regulatory signals, responding stem cells, and extracellular m
atrix. Recent advances in molecular biology of the bone morphogenetic
proteins (BMPs) have set the stage for tissue engineering of bone and
related tissues, including the periodontium. Bone-derived BMPs, with a
collagenous matrix as carrier, induced cementum and alveolar bone reg
eneration in surgically created furcation defects in the primate. It i
s noteworthy that there was morphogenesis of periodontal ligament and
a faithful insertion of: Sharpey's fibers into cementum, In the same f
urcation model, recombinant human osteogenic protein-1 (rhOP-1, also k
nown as BMP-7), in conjunction with the collagenous carrier, induced e
xtensive cementogenesis with insertion of Sharpey's fibers into the ne
wly formed cementum. The observation that BMPs induce cementogenesis a
nd periodontal ligament formation indicates that these proteins may ha
ve multiple functions in vivo not limited to cartilage and bone induct
ion. The rapid advances in the molecular biology of BMPs and their rec
eptors bode well for novel strategies to engineer the regeneration of
the periodontal tissues.