Ultrastructure of the dental epithelium during enameloid mineralization in a teleost fish, Cichlasoma cyanoguttatum.

Secretory-stage inner dental epithelial cells (IDE) of tooth buds deposited an unmineralized, ectodermally-derived, enameloid collagen matrix. Pharyngeal plates bearing tooth buds were fixed: some were demineralized, others treated with guanidine-EDTA, then fixed and post-fixed in osmium tetroxide with potassium ferricyanide. Thin Epon sections were viewed in a Jeol 100B TEM. Nascent enameloid crystals were orientated parallel to the collagen fibres and attained widths of 200 nm. Enameloid collagen was absent in demineralized mature enameloid. The outer dental epithelial plasma membrane was deeply invaginated forming extensive channels associated with elongated fuzzy-coated vesicles. Four configurations of IDE cells were characterized by cellular constituents, including elongated granules, Golgi complexes, multivesicular bodies, large electron-dense granules and extracellular amorphous material which was also adjacent to cells containing few organelles associated with protein synthesis, within infoldings of ruffled apical membranes and multivesicular bodies. This material was considered to be resorbed enameloid collagen, not a secretory product.