Neuronal Profile of Pulpal Tissue After Tooth Slice Organ Culture

Methods: The study was carried out with 13 Wistar rats, in which jaws were dissected and sliced horizontally, exposing the molar pulpal chamber from apex to pulpal horn with a diamond saw and water coolant. Tooth slices from each rat were cultured for 0, 1, and 3 days. Immunohistological investigation was carried out using antibodies against CGRP, PER, and PGP 9.5. Negative controls were carried out with the elimination of the primary antibody and positive controls were carried out with rat brain stem tissue. Image analysis with Scion Image was used to quantify any statistical differences and SPSS was applied to calculate Student T-test between paired groups. Results: While a statistically significant reduction of immunohistological labelling for CGRP was observed after 1 and 3 days of culture (p=0,028 for CGRP 0 and 1 days; p=0,009 for CGRP 0 and 3 days), other antibodies demonstrated consistent labelling in tooth slices after 1 and 3 days. Conclusion: We conclude that CGRP sensitive fibres are minimally detectable after 24 hours in culture and specific neuronal products labelled with PER and PGP 9.5 are still strongly detectable after 1 and 3 days of culture. This provides an understanding of how long neuronal products are retained in the tooth slice organ culture, and possibly influencing odontoblast function in the dentin-pulp complex while in culture.