Differential growth of craniofacial and tibial bones to sympathetic hyperactivity-related hypertension in rats.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of sympathetic nervous system hyperactivity on craniofacial skeletal growth in growing spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs).

Design: Craniofacial skeletal growth was compared between male SHR and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKR) using linear measurements on lateral and transverse cephalometric radiographs at the age of 12 weeks. Tibia length was measured as an index of whole body growth.

The chemokine receptor type 4 antagonist, AMD3100, interrupts experimental tooth movement in rats.

Objective: The aim of this study was to clarify the role of the stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1)/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) axis in osteoclast accumulation, and the influence of orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) under mechanical force application to periodontal tissues, by administration of the CXCR4 antagonist AMD3100.

Design: The upper right first molar (M1) of rats was moved mesially with a 10-g force titanium-nickel closed coil spring. Rats were treated with phosphate-buffered saline or AMD3100 (5mg/kg), which is a SDF-1 antagonist.

Ultrasound microbubble-mediated transfection of NF-κB decoy oligodeoxynucleotide into gingival tissues inhibits periodontitis in rats in vivo.

Periodontitis is a chronic infectious disease for which the fundamental treatment is to reduce the load of subgingival pathogenic bacteria by debridement. However, previous investigators attempted to implement a nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) decoy oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) as a suppressor of periodontitis progression. Although we recently reported the effectiveness of the ultrasound-microbubble method as a tool for transfecting the NF-κB decoy ODN into healthy rodent gingival tissue, this technique has not yet been applied to the pathological gingiva of periodontitis animal models.

Soft diet causes greater alveolar osteopenia in the mandible than in the maxilla.

Objective: To investigate changes in the bony microstructure of the upper and lower alveolar bone during masticatory loading induced by soft diet feeding in growing rats.

Design: Three-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups. Rats were fed with either pellets [control group (n=6)] or a soft diet [experimental group (n=6)] for nine weeks.