{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T08:06:11Z","timestamp":1790755571160,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,24]],"date-time":"2021-11-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1637712000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Basic Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Re-public of Korea.","award":["2020R1A2C3005694"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020R1A2C3005694"]}]},{"name":"Bio &amp; Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea","award":["2017M3A9E4047243"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017M3A9E4047243"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In dental pulp, diverse types of cells mediate the dental pulp immunity in a highly complex and dynamic manner. Yet, 3D spatiotemporal changes of various pulpal immune cells dynamically reacting against foreign pathogens during immune response have not been well characterized. It is partly due to the technical difficulty in detailed 3D comprehensive cellular-level observation of dental pulp in whole intact tooth beyond the conventional histological analysis using thin tooth slices. In this work, we validated the optical clearing technique based on modified Murray\u2019s clear as a valuable tool for a comprehensive cellular-level analysis of dental pulp. Utilizing the optical clearing, we successfully achieved a 3D visualization of CD11c+ dendritic cells in the dentin-pulp complex of a whole intact murine tooth. Notably, a small population of unique CD11c+ dendritic cells extending long cytoplasmic processes into the dentinal tubule while located at the dentin-pulp interface like odontoblasts were clearly visualized. 3D visualization of whole murine tooth enabled a reliable observation of these rarely existing cells with a total number less than a couple of tens in one tooth. These CD11c+ dendritic cells with processes in the dentinal tubule were significantly increased in the dental pulpitis model induced by mechanical and chemical irritation. Additionally, the 3D visualization revealed a distinct spatial 3D arrangement of pulpal CD11c+ cells in the pulp into a front-line barrier-like formation in the pulp within 12 h after the irritation. Collectively, these observations demonstrated the unique capability of optical clearing-based comprehensive 3D cellular-level visualization of the whole tooth as an efficient method to analyze 3D spatiotemporal changes of various pulpal cells in normal and pathological conditions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms222312683","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,30]],"date-time":"2021-11-30T04:48:37Z","timestamp":1638247717000},"page":"12683","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["3D Visualization of Dynamic Cellular Reaction of Pulpal CD11c+ Dendritic Cells against Pulpitis in Whole Murine Tooth"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3438-9344","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sujung","family":"Hong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"},{"name":"KI for Health Science and Technology (KIHST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Deahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yeoung-Hyun","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Histology-Developmental Biology, School of Dentistry and Dental Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul 03080, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingu","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"},{"name":"KI for Health Science and Technology (KIHST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Deahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4523-6979","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jieun","family":"Moon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"},{"name":"KI for Health Science and Technology (KIHST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Deahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eunji","family":"Kong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"KI for Health Science and Technology (KIHST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Deahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"},{"name":"Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8321-8106","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jehwi","family":"Jeon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"KI for Health Science and Technology (KIHST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Deahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"},{"name":"Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3162-7557","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joo-Cheol","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oral Histology-Developmental Biology, School of Dentistry and Dental Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul 03080, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hyung-Ryong","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, College of Dentistry, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54896, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8388-1840","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pilhan","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"},{"name":"KI for Health Science and Technology (KIHST), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Deahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"},{"name":"Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"87","article-title":"Dental plaque biofilm in oral health and disease","volume":"14","author":"Seneviratne","year":"2011","journal-title":"Chin. 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