Active transport of calcium across dental enamel cells - testing a new paradigm

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/350438

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Dental enamel defects and tooth loss affect over half our population, resulting in substantial suffering and economic costs. It is likely that many enamel defects could be prevented, and replacement teeth made more lifelike, if more was known about the cells responsible for producing enamel. A particular problem is our lack of understanding about how enamel-forming cells avoid overdosing on calcium, which can lead to cellular toxicity. The overall aim of this research is to use the latest cell biology and biochemical techniques to elucidate the mechanisms of calcium handling in enamel cells, with developing teeth from rat as the experimental model. Our focus is on calcium transport mechanisms, a field where past theories were overturned by our recent findings with gene-knockout animals. We will test a new theory that has arisen from our investigations, using drugs and gene-silencing techniques to interfere with the cellular machinery now thought to be crucial for transporting calcium. By providing strong physiological evidence for this new mechanism, our expected results will define specific proteins that might be targeted by drugs and nutrition, and provide important information about how dietary fluoride and caffeine affect enamel quality. These findings would change thinking about how enamel defects can be prevented and provide a solid foundation to the exciting new field of dental bioengineering, whose goal is to coax stem cells to make natural replacement teeth.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2005

End Date: 01-01-2007

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $258,000.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Biochemistry and Cell Biology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Biochemistry - protein peptide | Calcium | Cell biology of dental enamel | Cell survival | Dental development | Endoplasmic reticulum | Molecular basis of disease | Proteome analysis | Transcellular calcium transport

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