Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effects of bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 (BMPR-Ⅱ) on the ameloblastic differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). Methods: The mouse embryo fibroblasts treated with mitomycin-C were used as the feeder cells for iPS cells. Real-time PCR and western blot were used to measure the gene and protein expression of different BMP receptors by iPS cells cultured with control medium or ASF-CM. Immunohistochemical staining and flow cytometry were used to detect the expression of ameloblastin, enamelin, and cytokeratin-14 by BMPR-Ⅱ siRNA-pretreated iPS cells cultured with control medium or ASF-CM. Results: The gene and protein expression of BMPR-Ⅱ by iPS cells treated with ASF-CM were significantly higher than those of the controls (P<0.05). ASF-CM treatment significantly increased the gene and protein expression of ameloblastin, enamelin, and cytokeratin-14 (P<0.05), which could be obviously reversed by BMPR-Ⅱ siRNA pre-treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion: BMPR-Ⅱ plays an important role during the regulation of the ameloblastic differentiation of iPS cells.

Key words: Bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2, Induced pluripotent stem cells, Ameloblastic differentiation