Morphometric analysis of the developing murine molar tooth in vivo and in vitro.

A morphometric technique is described which has been used to measure morphogenesis and matrix synthesis of developing murine teeth in vivo and in vitro. The growth of bud and cap stage tooth germs in vitro was reduced considerably compared with in vivo. There was no growth of tooth germs explanted and cultured in vitro at the bell stage. The onset of dentine and enamel synthesis were however only slightly delayed in vitro compared with in vivo. The technique had been designed to be insensitive to orientation or artefactual folding of the cultured tissue.