An investigation of pulp capillaries and tight junctions between odontoblasts in cats

The relative roles of capillaries and odontoblasts in the process of dentinogenesis and in pulp reactions to trauma and pathology are not clear. Contributing to the problem is the paucity of information on odontoblast--capillary relationships and tight junctions between odontoblasts. Using light microscopy the capillaries have now been examined in semithin transverse sections of perfusion fixed teeth at different positions in the long axis from the apical foramina to the pulp horns. Odontoblastic capillaries were prominent in the coronal and middle regions of canines and present at the same levels of incisors. In the pulp horns and just coronal to the pulp horns capillaries were all subodontoblastic but near the apex there were also a few odontoblastic capillary profiles. Transmission electron microscopy on ultrathin sections revealed that a high proportion of middle and coronal odontoblastic capillary profiles were fenestrated but subodontoblastic profiles coronal to the pulp horns were the most fenestrated. In a search for tight junctions in ultrathin sections some typical strands were observed between odontoblasts. The difficult of obtaining the latter evidence was explained by the cellular arrangement of the odontoblasts which differed markedly from an ideal parallel, apically coplanar arrangement. The results question the possibility that there is a direct exchange of materials between pulp capillaries and dentine in teeth of limited growth and provide a baseline for future experiments to test the permeability of the odontoblast layer.