Figure 3. Cells of the tooth germ at the early bell stage before (a) and after (b) laser microdissection (scale bars, 100 µm). The white areas in Fig. 3b are areas that had been microdissected. Comparison of the levels of mRNA expression of PKC ßI, PKC ßII, amelogenin (c), and VEGF (d), with the use of real-time RT-PCR analysis. Data are the mean ± SEM of 5 experiments. PKC ßI, PKC ßII, VEGF, and amelogenin expression are appreciably up-regulated in the inner enamel epithelium (P < 0.05).