Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
Establishment of a Murine Pulp Exposure Model with a Novel Mouth-Gag for Pulpitis Research
Published on: October 27, 2023
Artificial dental pulp exposure injury up-regulates antigen-presenting cell-related molecules in rat central nervous
Tomoatsu Kaneko1, Mitsuhiro Kaneko, Uraiwan Chokechanachaisakul
1Pulp Biology and Endodontics, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan. tomoendo@tmd.ac.jp
Introduction:
Bacterial infection and resulting inflammation of the dental pulp might not only trigger neuroimmune interactions in this tissue but also sensitize the central nervous system (CNS) such as the thalamus via nociceptive neurons. Thus, immunopathologic changes in the rat thalamus that take place after pulp inflammation were investigated.
Methods:
Pulp exposure was made in mandibular right first molars of 5-week-old Wistar rats. After 24 hours, the thalamus was retrieved and subjected to either immunohistochemistry for class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) or mRNA expression analysis of antigen-presenting cell-related molecules and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2D subunit (NR2D) by means of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and real-time PCR.
Results:
At 24 hours after pulp exposure, the density of class II MHC molecule-expressing and GFAP-expressing cells was increased in the contralateral thalamus. Gene expression analysis revealed the up-regulation of class II MHC molecules, CD80, CD83, CD86, and NR2D in the contralateral thalamus, as compared with the ipsilateral thalamus.
Conclusions:
These results suggest the signal of pulp inflammation induces neuronal activation in the CNS.
