The characteristics of epithelial cell rests of Malassez during tooth eruption of development mice.

It has been demonstrated that Hertwig's epithelial root sheath (HERS) has an important role in root development, closely related to development of cementum epithelial rests of Malassez (ERM) as the residuum after HERS fragment, and is the exclusive epithelial structure in the mature periodontal ligament. Some studies reported that ERM may play a role in maintaining a stable environment of periodontal, and likely to be involved in regeneration of periodontal tissue, especially of cementum. However, the function of the ERM is not well understood. In this study, we observed the morphology and biological characteristics of ERM of the maxillary 1st molar with surrounding periodontal tissues of BALB/c mice during the period of tooth cusp erupted out of the gingiva to occlusion stability. Immunohistochemistry revealed ERM predominately located at the cervical and root furcation regions of the periodontal ligament. The number of ERM cells at the cervical and root furcation regions of the post-built occlusion stage decreased compared to pre-built occlusion stage and occlusion building stage. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that epithelial cell nuclei with typical features of apoptosis were observed at the post-built occlusion stage, and consistent with positive bodies labeled by TUNEL(terminal deoxy-transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling), while proliferating cell nuclear antigen positive bodies mainly located at occlusion built stage. It suggests that ERM may regulate in alveolar bone remodeling in association with the periodontal ligament during tooth erupting to occlusion stability and may play important roles potentially in regeneration and homeostasis of the periodontal tissues.