Tomes's process

The surfaces of the ameloblasts facing the developing enamel are not smooth. There is an interdigitation of the cells and the enamel rods that they produce. This interdigitation is partly a result of the fact that the long axes of the ameloblasts are not parallel to the long axes of the rods. The projections of the ameloblasts into the enamel matrix have been named Tomes processes. It was once believed that these processes were transformed into enamel matrix, but more recent electron microscopic studies have demonstrated that matrix synthesis and secretion by ameloblasts are very similar to the same processes occurring in other protein-secreting cells. Although Tomes processes are partly delineated by incomplete septa, they also contain typical secretion granules as well as rough endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria.

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