Evaluation of the effect of systemic berberine supplementation on the progression of experimental periodontitis induced in obese rats

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether systemic administration of berberine will reduce the progression of experimental periodontitis (EP) in obese rats. Ninety male rats (Rattus novergicus albinus, Wistar) will be used and randomly assigned to three experimental groups. All groups will be subjected to obesity induction by a cafeteria diet for 12 weeks before starting the administration of BER 120 mg/kg/day or 0.7ml/kg/day of 0.9% saline solution, via gastric gavage (GG) for 3 weeks, after which PE will be induced by installing a n°24 cotton thread around the lower left first molar. Body weight and Lee's index will be assessed weekly during the experiment to evaluate the induction of obesity, as will glycemic levels during the experiment. The groups will be: OBE: no procedure or substance will be used, monitoring will be carried out throughout the experimental period; OBE/PE: daily administration of 0.7 ml/kg of SS via gastric gavage (GG), starting on the day of PE induction. OBE/PE: GG with 120mg/kg/day of BER, started on the day of PE induction. Euthanasia will be carried out at 7, 15 and 30 days after PE induction (OBE-PE/OBE-PE-BER) or PE simulation (OBE). Specimens will be removed and subjected to the fixation and washing stage for subsequent processing or not the demineralization stage according to the analysis to be carried out: micro-computed tomography (microCT) of the fraction of bone volume in the furcation (%BV/TV), finally histometric analysis for percentage of bone in the furcation region (POF) and histopathology of the furcation region. Finally, the data was statistically analyzed (pd0.05).