Figure 4. Cells of the tooth germ at the late bell stage before (a) and after (b) laser microdissection (scale bars, 500 µm). The white areas in Fig. 4b 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. The expression levels of PKC ßI, PKC ßII, VEGF, and amelogenin were reduced in the inner enamel epithelium from the early bell stage; however, they remained higher than in other areas of the dental germ.