[Research progress in studies on tooth development based on diphyodont mammals].

For decades, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern tooth development have been extensively investigated. However, most of the studies are based on mice, whose teeth are quite different from human teeth in morphological and developmental aspects. Mice are not the ideal model for understanding the development of permanent teeth as they have only one set of dentition. Thus, using of diphyodont mammals is a better model to study the deciduous and permanent tooth development and to understand the process of tooth replacement. Several diphyodont mammal models have been established including minipig, ferret, house shrew and rabbit. Studies based on the diphyodont mammals have characterized the morphological changes involved in tooth replacement and molecular mechanisms of tooth replacement. However, few developmental stages were studied on ferret due to the presence of seasonal estrus and the difficulty to obtain ferret embryos at the correct stage. The house shrew is limited as a model because their deciduous tooth germs become vestigial in the embryonic period. The main disadvantage of the rabbit is an incomplete dentition with the lack of canines. Compared to the above mentioned animal models, the miniature pig has proven to be a valuable animal model for diphyodont development due to its dentition similarities, including the morphology, number and size of teeth, to human's, and particularly its heterodont dentition consisting of incisors, canines, premolars and molars. The present article reviews the current knowledge on the development of the primary and successional teeth in minipig modle and briefly summarizes the studies based on other diphyodont mammal models.与小鼠相比，使用双牙列哺乳动物作为研究牙齿发育的实验模型对于解释人类牙齿发生、发育和替换更具有说服力。运用较多的双牙列哺乳动物模型是小型猪，此外还有犬、灵长类动物、雪貂和臭鼩等。有关小型猪牙齿形态学发生发育的研究已比较完善，而相关分子机制的研究在近年也有了长足进展。本文系统性综述了小型猪牙齿发育的研究现状，并对其他双牙列哺乳动物的牙齿发育研究进行了概述。.