No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The concentration of protein in the dental-pulp fluid of the dog has been found to be approximately one-fifth of that in the blood plasma.' The present study was undertaken to determine the relative concentration of protein fractions in these two body fluids.Materials and Methods After the dog had been completely anesthetized with nembutal, a hole was drilled with an air-turbine handpiecet in the manner described elsewhere' through the buccal enamel and dentin to the pulp chamber in the maxillary and mandibular canine, premolar, and first molar teeth on the same side of the jaw. A capillary glass tube was inserted in each hole and sealed in place. After several hours, clear, colorless fluid, which we have designated as dental-pulp fluid, had collected in the tubes in sufficient amount for the desired analyses. Plasma was obtained from venous blood drawn toward the end of the experiment.In numerous experiments in which this technique was employed, we could detect, upon microscopic examination, no erythrocytes or leukocytes in the dental-pulp fluid. The chairman of the Department of Oral Pathology at this institution made and examined for us histologic decalcified sections of the teeth in some of these experiments. He could find no evidence of pulpal damage. He saw no indication of inflammatory response in the pulp at the levels where the holes had been drilled. We have therefore concluded that the dental-pulp fluid is a capillary transudate.Separation of the protein fractions was effected in an electrophoresis instrument,: using filter-paper strips § and sodium barbitone-sodium acetate buffer of pH 8.6 and 0.1 ionic strength. In preliminary trials it was found that the concentration of the protein fractions in the pulp fluid was so low as to give only faint, indistinct markings on the filter-paper strips when subjected to electrophoresis. The pulp fluid was therefore freeze-dried and then made up with distilled water to a volume that was five times as concentrated as the original.

No abstract