Occurrence of oxytalan fibers in the temporomandibular joint of the rat.
It is known that, in addition to their presence in the periodontal ligament, the existence of oxytalan fibers can be shown in other tissue structures as well. No unanimous opinion concerning the function of these fibers can be found in the literature. Pre-elastic fibers are also stained when one tries to demonstrate oxytalan fibers according to Fullmer's technique; confusion has to be eliminated. In the first instance, in our experiments we could observe the presence of oxytalan fibers within the temporomandibular joints of Wistar rats. Next the reaction of these fibers was studied under experimental circumstances by carefully removing all molar crowns; as a consequence, more stress to the joint was induced. By sectioning the mandibular joint and adnexa in the vertical and sagittal plane, we obtained a three-dimensional image. The sections were also stained according to a modified staining method of Fullmer and the elastin staining technique of Gieson/Hart. The molar crowns of ten rats at the age of 2 months and ten rats aged 4 months were removed. The control animals matched the experimental rats in number and age. After 1 month all rats were decapitated. In the nearly cell-free central zone of the articular disk, where, under normal and experimental circumstances, only very few elastic fibers can be found, the number of oxytalan fibers in the experimental animals increased 40 percent with respect to the controls. These findings suggest that the augmented number of the involved fibers functions as a kind of resistance against distortion.
D000818:Animals; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013704:Temporomandibular Joint / Q000033:anatomy & histology*