Non-myelinated nerve fibres and their terminals in the sub-odontoblastic plexus of the feline dental pulp.

Serial thin sections of the coronal dental pulp of the cat's canine tooth were cut. Parts of the sub-odontoblastic neural plexus were photographed from 100 of the sections. The plexus consists of many slender, predominantly unmyelinated nerve fibres. Many axons are incompletely sheathed by their Schwann cell. Some axons leave the Schwann cell sheath and either end in the extracellar space or return to the Schwann cell after traveling a short distance. Several axons are often seen in close contact within a single invagination of the Schwann cell. They remain in contact for up to 7 micrometer.l Both Schwann cells and axons are see to branch in this region. These features may be characteristic of nerve fibres and terminals which respond to noxious stimuli.