EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES IN CALCIFICATION

VIII. THE EFFECT OF LARGE DOSES OF CALCIFEROL ON THE DENTIN OF THE INCISOR IN NORMAL AND NEPHRECTOMIZED RATS

¹ Department of Histology, University of Illinois, College of Dentistry, and the Department of Biological Chemistry, Loyola University, School of Medicine, Chicago, Ill.

The effect of large doses of calciferol on the dentin and pulp was studied in the upper incisors of nine normal and thirty-eight nephrectomized rats. The findings were:

1. The dentin showed the typical calciotraumatic response in both groups.

2. Calciferol in normal rats did not influence the rate of dentin formation but increased the rate of calcification.

3. Calciferol in nephrectomized rats lost its accelerating influence on the calcification of predentin.

4. The accelerating influence of nephrectomy on the rate of dentin formation was not influenced by simultaneous injections of calciferol.

5. Ectopic calcifications of the pulp were absent after administration of calciferol. Nephrectomized animals showed about the same incidence of ectopic calcification with or without injection of calciferol.