The Distribution of Glycogen in Bovine Dental Pulp

¹ Department of Pedodontics, University of Alabama School of Dentistry, Birmingham, Alabama

The distribution of cellular glycogen in bovine dental pulp was determined by histochemical procedures. Concentration of cellular glycogen in pulpal tissue varied with the developmental age of the teeth from which the pulps were taken. As the developmental age of the teeth increased, the amount of cellular glycogen also increased. Pulpal cells containing glycogen were limited to the central pulpal core; none was observed in the subodontoblastic regions of the dental pulps.

The concentration and distribution of cellular glycogen in bovine dental pulp appears to be related to the pulpal vascularity as well as to the metabolic environment in the tissue at any particular stage of tooth development.