OVEREXPRESSION OF SOYBEAN AGGLUTININ BINDING SITES IN HYPERPLASTIC DENTAL EPITHELIUM IN OSTEOPETROTIC (OP/OP) MICE

In the present study, we examined SBA lectin binding sites and patterns in hyperplastic dental epithelium overlying the crowns of pathologically unerupted molar teeth from congenital osteopetrotic (OP/OP) mice, and compared our findings with the pattern seen in the normal littermates. The hyperplastic dental epithelium of OP/OP mice disclosed preferential and intense staining of SBA. The lectin binding sites were demonstrated on membrane of the epithelial cells that interconnected with superficial gingival epithelium. At ultrastructural level, SBA labeling was detected over the desmosomal complexes of the epithelial cells. In normal mice, the reducing dental epithelium, as well as junctional epithelial cells, likewise demonstrated the lectin staining, but to a significantly lesser extent. The results of this study, taken together with suggested property of SBA binding, indicate that the hyperplastic dental epithelium in OP/OP mice might overexpress sugar sequences with N-acetyl-D-galactosamine on their cell surface, and this may be attributed to a functional alteration or degradation of such cell surface, due secondary to the pathological aberrations residing in OP/OP mice.