SLC17A7 and inflammatory response: The increase in the VGLUT2, but not VGLUT1, expression in the pulpal axons and TG somata following pulpal inflammation in our study provides a morphological evidence supporting the notion that the peripheral glutamate signaling by the pulpal axons may be also enhanced following pulpal inflammation, and that it may be mediated by VGLUT2: It was shown that expression level of VGLUT is closely related with the amount of glutamate release [25], [26].