Abstract
Dental pulps have recently been recognized as potential bio-resources for the regeneration of mineralized and neuronal tissues. In this study we estimated the expression of mRNA and protein of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in human dental pulps. The dental pulps, which were obtained from adult third molars, showed the expression of BMP-2, -4, -6, and -7 mRNAs by RT-PCR. In addition, the mRNA expressions of other hard tissue-related proteins, such as alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteocalcin (OCN), osteopontin(OPN), dentin sialoprotein (DSP), and dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1), were detected by RT-PCR. The lysate of human dental pulps gave a main band at 50 kDa and several minor bands at 32 to 16 kDa by immunoblotting with anti-BMP-2 antibody. The construct of human BMP-2 with FLAG epitope was prepared, and the fusion protein was expressed in COS-7 cells. The FLAG-tagged BMP-2 gave an identical band at 62kDa by immunoblotting using both anti-FLAG and anti-BMP-2. These results suggest that anti-BMP-2 is highly specific to human BMP-2, and that BMP-2 is mainly present as an immature high molecular weight precursor in normal, adult dental pulps.
