Polarized light study of giant tubules in human and red deer coronal dentin.
Previously described giant tubules in human and red deer coronal dentin have been subjected to a study by polarized light microscopy. Structure of the giant tubules was similar in both species. The lumen of each tubule was bordered by a 5-15-micrometers-thick collagenous mantle in which the fibers were orientate parallel to its long axis. In a circular dentin area encompassing the mantle, the course of the collagen fibers might be characterized as a winding of fibers around the cylindrical mantle. This structure of the giant tubules conforms with that described earlier in the rudimentary maxillary canine of a red deer. Thus, such tubules do not represent a rare anomaly, but occur regularly in both human and red deer coronal dentin.
D000818:Animals; D003094:Collagen; D003670:Deer / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D003804:Dentin / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization
D003094:Collagen