[Ultrastructure of individual odontoblast cilia].
Odontoblasts of teeth anlagen in inbred white rat fetuses were studied electron microscopically. On the lateral surface of some odontoblasts isolated cilia were discovered, directed, as a rule, towards intercellular spaces. Cilial trunk is covered with the odontoblastic cytomembrane and in the area of the basal body the membrane is forming a sack-like enlargement. Either 9 or 8 pairs of peripheral fibres are seen in the transversal sections of cilia, while the central pair of fibrils is absent. The basal body is a cylinder formed by 9 fibrillar triplets. A basal root runs from the basal body. It is suggested that the isolated cilia of odontoblasts are not rudimentary formations, but performed certain sensory function.
D000818:Animals; D002923:Cilia / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009804:Odontoblasts / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D051381:Rats
Ul'trastruktura odinochykh resnichek odontoblastov.