Maternal periodontitis and its effects on the salivary glands of rat offspring: biochemical, functional, histomorphometric, immunohistochemical and redox state parameters

Abstract

The objective of the present study will be to investigate the effects of maternalperiodontitis on the salivary glands of rat offspring, through biochemical, functional,histological, and redox status parameters. Wistar rats will be randomly divided into twogroups (n=10 per group): Control (CN) and periodontal disease (PD), where the diseasewill be induced by ligature with silk thread around the lower 1st molar bilaterally. Sevendays after periodontitis induction, both groups will be placed to mate with healthy malerats. After weaning, the litters will be distributed into the following groups (n=20 pergroup): female offspring of control rats (CNPF), male offspring of control rats (CNPM);female offspring of rats with periodontal disease (CPPD) and male offspring of rats withperiodontal disease (PPMD). At 40 days of age, total saliva induced by pilocarpine will becollected to determine salivary flow, pH, buffering capacity, total protein, amylase,calcium, and phosphate. After saliva collection, the offspring of both groups will beeuthanized, and the parotid and submandibular glands will be removed and weighed. Thesalivary glands on the right side will be stored at -80°C and used for analysis of redoxstate markers, and the glands on the left side will be used for immunohistochemical andhistomorphometric analyses. The Shapiro-Wilk test will be used to verify the normaldistribution of the data. The One-Way ANOVA test will be applied to parametric data, andthe Kruskal Wallis test will be used for non-parametric data. In all tests, a null hypothesisrejection level of 5% (p < 0.05) will be adopted.