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Effects of Endodontic Inflammation on the Rat Pancreas
Author(s) -
Zhang Haowei,
Bain Jeniffer L.,
Caskey Curtis P.,
Sandifer Lindsay Camille,
Johnson Roger
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.751.1
Subject(s) - pancreas , medicine , endocrinology , inflammation , molar , islet , estrogen , tumor necrosis factor alpha , analysis of variance , insulin , dentistry
Our objective was to assess gender‐specific systemic effects coincident to endodontic inflammation on the pancreas. Female SD rats with and without ovariectomies and male SD rats were studied (n=16 for each group). In 1/2 of the animals, endodontic abscesses were created by exposing the pulps of the 1 st and 2 nd maxillary molars using a dental drill. The rest of the animals were sham‐operated. 28 days later, serum and pancreas were collected. 1/2 of the pancreas were solubilized in PBS and the other half embedded in paraffin. The latter were serially sectioned and stained with H&E or immunostained with anti‐IL‐6 or anti‐TNFa. In H&E sections, the cross‐sectional areas of the islets of Langerhans were measured using Sigma Scan Pro software. IL‐6 and TNFa concentrations were measured in the pancreas and IL‐6, TNFa, 17β estradiol and testosterone concentrations were measured in serum by ELISA. Data were compared by factorial ANOVA and a post‐hoc Tukey test. Serum and pancreas IL‐6 and TNFa concentrations were significantly higher in OVX‐experimental animals than in all other groups. The cross‐sectional areas of the islets of Langerhans were significantly greater in the OVX‐experimental than in all other groups except Sham‐operated control male rats. The data suggest that loss of estrogen in females results in greater systemic inflammation coincident to endodontic abscesses, which affects the structure and immune profile of the pancreas.