Rete pegs are finger-like structures that are formed during the development and wound healing process of the skin and oral mucosa, and they provide better mechanical resistance and nutritional supply between the epithelium and dermis. An increasing number of studies have shown that rete pegs have physiological functions, such as resisting bacterial invasion, body fluid loss, and other harmful changes, which indicate that rete pegs are important structures in natural skin and oral mucosa. Although a great deal of progress has been made in scaffold materials and construction methods for tissue-engineered skin and oral mucosa in recent years, construction of the oral mucosa with functional rete pegs remains a major challenge. In this review, we summarized current research on the progress on formation of rete pegs in human oral mucosa as well as its molecular basis and regulatory mechanism, which might provide new ideas for functional construction of tissue-engineered skin and oral mucosa.

Rete pegs是在皮肤和口腔粘膜的发育和伤口愈合过程中形成的手指状结构，它们在上皮和真皮之间提供更好的机械阻力和营养供应。越来越多的研究表明，rete pegs具有抵抗细菌入侵、体液流失等有害变化的生理功能，这表明rete pegs是天然皮肤和口腔黏膜中的重要结构。尽管近年来在组织工程皮肤和口腔黏膜的支架材料和构建方法方面取得了很大进展，但构建具有功能性rete pegs的口腔黏膜仍然是一个重大挑战。在本次审查中，