Catecholamines in the dental pulp.

TLDR: The purpose of this investigation was to determine the level of catecholamines in bovine dental pulp and determine the concentrations of dopamine and norepinephrine in tissue.

Abstract: Presence of catecholamines in the dental pulp has been proved by a method of fluorescence histochemistry (G. ANNEROTH and K.-A. NORBERG, Acta Odont Scand 26:89-93, 1968; P. POHTO and R. ANTILA, Acta Odont Scand 26: 137-144, 1968). However, the quantitative analysis of catecholamines in the dental pulp has not been reported. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the level of catecholamines in bovine dental pulp. Bovine teeth were obtained fresh, packed in ice, from a slaughterhouse. The dental pulp was dissected immediately and pooled. Each 5 gm portion of the pooled dental pulp was used for analysis. The dental pulp was homogenized with 25 ml of 5% trichloroacetic acid. The homogenate was centrifuged, and the supernatant solutions were treated with 0.4 gm of alumina to adsorb catecholamines by the method of Crout (Standard Methods of Clinical Chemistry, New York: Academic Press, 1961, vol 3, pp 62-80). Catecholamines were eluted with 2 ml of 0.2 N hydrochloric acid. The concentrations of dopamine and norepinephrine were determined by sensitive trihydroxyindole fluorometry for the simultaneous estimation of norepinephrine and dopamine in tissue (A. F. HOGANS, personal communication). To 1 ml of the alumina eluate adjusted to pH 6.5, 1.0 ml of phosphate buffer (0.1 M, pH 6.5) and 1.0 ml of 4%