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Updated: Jun 14, 2026

A Co-Culture Method to Study Neurite Outgrowth in Response to Dental Pulp Paracrine Signals
Published on: February 14, 2020
Activation of GABAergic neurons following tooth pulp stimulation
1Department of Paediatric Dentistry, School of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University, No. 145 West Changle Road, Xi'an 710032, China.
Abstract:
The functional impact of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)ergic neurons in nociceptive transmission of the spinal trigeminal nucleus is not fully established. Using both the glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)(67)-green fluorescence protein (GFP) knock-in mouse and the tooth pulp stimulation model, we performed double-immunofluorescent histochemistry to determine the characteristics of GABAergic neuron activation in the spinal trigeminal nucleus. The number of Fos-positive GABAergic neuronal profiles was significantly increased 2 hrs after tooth pulp stimulation. The Fos/GFP double-labeled neurons were mainly present in superficial laminae of the spinal trigeminal subnucleus interpolaris-caudalis transition (Vi/Vc) and subnucleus caudalis (Vc) on the side ipsilateral to the stimulation. Subsequently, the number of double-labeled neurons decreased gradually and became comparable with that of the controls by 48 hrs. Our results provide direct morphological evidence that a subset of GABAergic neurons in the spinal trigeminal system was activated during tooth pulp stimulation.
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