Some Changes in the Connective Tissue Ground Substance Associated with the Eruption of the Teeth

Abstract

Fixation was done by freezing-drying and carbohydrate complexes were visualized with the periodic acid leucofuchsin method. In some forms such as the fetal pig and calf and in the young rat large quantities of hyaluronic acid are present. This was confirmed by viscosimetry with hyaluronidase. As the teeth approach the surface of the oral mucous membrane, the ground substance is altered; it is thought to become depolymerized as deduced by its ability to bind vitally injected Evans blue, its staining reaction with the periodic acid-leucofuchsin procedure and its increased content of water-soluble, alcohol-insoluble carbohydrate.