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.