Microscopic analyses of the role of Regulatory T cells on periapical lesions experimentally induced on teeth mice

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) in the presence of the Pam3Cys ligand in experimentally induced periapical lesions on wild-type (WT) mice. Forty-eight male mice of the C57BL/6 mice, aged 6 to 8 weeks, weighing on average 20 grams will be used. The animals will be allocated to the following experimental groups: wild-type (WT; n = 24), WT + Pam3Cys 20¼g / 100¼L PBS (n = 24). All animals will present induced periapical lesions and will be evaluated after 7, 21 and 42 days. After the experimental periods, the animals will be euthanized, the jaws being dissected for further analysis. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) (description of pulp tissue and apical and periapical regions), histomorphometry (measurement of periapical lesions) and immunohistochemistry (CD4, CD8a e Foxp3 Tregs markers) will be performed. The data will be analyzed with the help of Graph Pad Prism 5, using the appropriate tests for each of the evaluations at the significance level of 5%.