Supplementary Material for: Immunostaining of Pulpal Nerve Fibre Bundle/Arteriole Associations in Ground Serial Sections of Whole Human Teeth Embedded in Technovit® 9100

A technique for embedding human undecalcified tooth specimens in Technovit® 9100 was developed, which permits immunohistological evaluation of pulp tissue in serial ground sections. Human molars were divided into 14-18 sections of about 23 µm thickness. Immunohistological double staining for S-100 and CD34 revealed unique associations of myelinated nerve fibre bundles with arterioles, which continued through the entire tooth pulp. These arterioles were not only accompanied by, but partially or totally enveloped in longitudinally orientated myelinated nerve fibre bundles. We speculate that this unique arrangement may mechanically support the arterioles and alleviate detection or regulation of their contraction state by sensory nerve cells.

本研究开发了一种采用泰克诺维特®9100（Technovit® 9100）包埋人类未脱钙牙齿标本的技术，该技术可实现连续磨片样本的牙髓组织免疫组织化学评估。将人类磨牙制备为14~18片厚度约23 μm的切片。针对S-100与CD34的免疫组织化学双染色结果显示，有髓神经纤维束与小动脉存在独特的关联模式，该关联贯穿整个牙髓。这些小动脉不仅伴随有髓神经纤维束分布，还部分或完全被纵向排列的有髓神经纤维束包裹。我们推测，这种独特的排布方式可在力学上为小动脉提供支撑，并为感觉神经细胞检测或调控其收缩状态提供便利。