In situ investigation of vitamin D receptor, alkaline phosphatase, and osteocalcin gene expression in oro-facial mineralized tissues

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression pattern of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 receptor (VDR) and vitamin D-responsive gene expression during the steps of hard tissue formation in oro-facial development. In situ hybridization of VDR, alkaline phosphatase, and osteocalcin transcripts was performed in the mandibles of growing rats. Osteoblasts were used as the internal positive control for in situ detection of VDR messenger RNAs. Transcripts were present throughout the stages of differentiation and in differentiated osteoblasts and osteocytes, and showed some anatomical specificities in their developmental expression pattern. In dental tissues, VDR was strongly expressed in the inner dental epithelium at the beginning of the presecretion stage and, after a transient decrease at the end of the presecretion stage, in secretion stage ameloblasts. VDR was continuously expressed in epithelial supraameloblastic cells. During dentin formation, VDR was mainly present in subodontoblastic cells and was down-regulated during the terminal differentiation of odontoblasts. In these cells, VDR expression appeared to be induced by 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 injection. These data confirm that VDR is expressed in cells directly involved in mineralized tissue formation: ameloblasts, odontoblasts, and osteoblasts. Furthermore, they extend the idea of vitamin D sensitivity to cells that are not directly involved in this process: supraameloblastic, subodontoblastic, and osteoprogenitor cells. The differential expression pattern of VDR in odontoblasts and osteoblasts together with the similarity in the expression of potential vitamin D-responsive genes (osteocalcin in odontoblasts and osteoblasts, and alkaline phosphatase in osteoprogenitor and subodontoblastic cells) suggest the existence of a tissue specificity for the genomic action of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, which may involve co-operation with additional nuclear factors.