DENTAL PAPILLA IN TISSUE CULTURE

¹ Department of Anatomy, Tissue Culture Laboratory, The University of Texas, Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas

1. Dental pulp from tooth germs of newborn kittens and 4 month-old human and 20-day-old rat fetuses was cultivated in roller tubes and hanging-drop preparations in order to observe cell outgrowths from the explants in the living state.

2. Patterns of outgrowth from the explanted dental pulp differed according to conditions on the surface of the explants.

3. When the surface of the pulp was perfectly intact, i.e., the surface was left covered with the basement membrane, there was only a small amount of cell emigration.

4. When the basement membrane was removed without any severe injury of the pulp tissue, outgrowth of dentinal fibers from odontoblasts, migration of odontoblasts themselves and of some wandering cells was observed.

5. When the odontoblastic layer was eliminated, spindle and/or stellate cells with wandering cells emigrated from this area. Tremendous emigration of cells was sometimes seen in such preparations unless there was mechanical trauma.

6. Outgrowth of blood capillaries from dental pulp was observed in the culture of permanent canines from newborn kittens.

7. Enamel epithelium and connective tissue cells from dental pulp were in direct contact with each other by means of intercellular bridges.