Dental epithelial attachment

Many cells secrete at least one of the three immature forms of TGF-P, and essentially all cells have receptors that respond to the presence of mature TGF-P in the stroma. In the periodontium, TGF-P stimulates fibroblast and osteoblast proliferation during connective tissue or bone remodeling (Sect. 10.1.3), and maintains the proliferation of dentally attached epithelial cells (Sect. 5.2.3). The linker domains that connect calcium binding domains in fibrillin are identical to the sequence of protein receptors that bind to TGF-P (Sect. 6.1.1). 

This chapter describes the organization of the major proteins that form a basal lamina which connects an epithelium to its underlying stroma (Sect. 1). The organization and major protein composition of oral and gingival epithelium and the junctional epithelial dental attachment at the base of a gingival sulcus are described (Sect. 2). 

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