Influence of obesity on experimental periodontal disease induced in rats

Abstract

Studies have been performed to evaluate the participation of several systemic factors in the pathogenesis of the periodontal diseases. However, there is no consensus in the literature regarding these effects of the obesity on those diseases. The purpose of this study is to evaluate in vivo the effects of obesity on the progression of the experimental periodontitis. Thirty-two rats will be distributed in 4 experimental groups: induction of obesity (O), induction of experimental periodontal disease (P); induction of obesity followed by P (OP) and control group, without intervention (C). The animals will be sacrificed 21 days after the beginning of the P induction. The alveolar bone loss will be measured by histomorphometry. The proportion of different structures (fibroblasts, inflammatory cells, vessels and other structures) will be determined histologically using stereometric images. In addition, histological analyses of the adipose tissue and liver will be performed. All data will be evaluated to test their normality. A significance level of 0.05 will be adopted to determine the validity of the tested hypothesis. (AU)