The Cholesterol Content of Some Bovine and Human Oral Tissues

¹ Department of Stomatology, College of Dentistry, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

This report presents the results of spectrophotometric analyses of cholesterol in bovine dental pulp, gingiva, parotid gland, and human dental pulp. The mean values for bovine and human pulp were approximately 0.07 and 0.21 per cent of moist weight, respectively. Its presence in bovine gingiva amounted to 0.11 per cent of moist weight. The cholesterol content of bovine parotid gland was 0.24 per cent of its moist weight. These findings, together with those of an older report on human gingiva, indicate that the cholesterol content of pulp and gingiva increases slightly with age and also that the values for human pulp and gingiva are higher than those for the corresponding bovine tissues.