[Histoautoradiographic studies on protein synthesis by odontoblasts]

The protein-producing function of the odontoblasts was studied in 120 Wistar rats with an initial weight ranging from 30 to 40 g determining the rate of the migration of radio-active isotopes (glycine-2-14C, lysine-1-14C) from the odontoblasts to the predentine. The odontoblasts exert a protein-synthetizing function and play an active part in predentine formation. Under the influence of a cariogenic saccharose-casein diet and the simultaneous induction of experimental caries, the intensity of the migration of the labelled amino acids from the odontoblasts to the predentine increases during the first and second stages of caries, which must be interpreted as an increase of the protein-synthetizing function of the odontoblasts associated with an intensification of dentinogenesis. During the third stage of caries, the protein-producing function of the odontoblasts decreases.