Accelerated alveolar bone loss in male HLA-B27 transgenic rats: adult onset.
OBJECTIVE
HLA-B27 transgenic (TG) rats exhibit severe colitis, arthritis and other inflammatory lesions. Previous studies in female TG rats indicate that they develop severe alveolar bone loss (ABL). Lack of data on male TG rats has left open the question of possible hormonal/sex dependence for the observed ABL. The purpose of the present study was to assess the natural history of ABL in male HLA-B27 rats, compared to age- and sex-matched wild-type Fischer 344 (WT) rats.


METHODS
Fourteen WT and 11 TG male rats, aged 7-8 weeks, were used. Sacrifice times occurred at 10, 22 and 35 weeks. Animal heads were defleshed and treated to remove organic material, and skulls were stained to locate the cemento-enamel junction. ABL was measured as exposed molar root surface area (mm2) on the right maxilla and right mandible. Blinded measurements were performed using a computer-assisted image analysis system.


RESULTS
ABL for the entire TG group was significantly different from the WT group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in ABL between WT and TG rats at 10 weeks of age. At 22 and 35 weeks of age TG rats experienced 23% and 37% greater ABL than WT rats, respectively; these differences were statistically significant (p < 0.015). For both TG and WT animals, ABL was significantly different between the three age groups.


CONCLUSIONS
These results, consistent with previous findings in female TG rats, suggest that the accelerated ABL found in TG rats is an adult-onset, age-dependent, and sex-independent process.
May
Natasha Y
NY
Section of Periodontology, College of Dentistry, The Ohio State University Health Sciences Center, Columbus, OH 43218-2357, USA.
Tatakis
Dimitris N
DN
D000367:Age Factors; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D005260:Female; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008963:Molar; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344 / Q000235:genetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019237:Tooth Cervix / Q000473:pathology; D014092:Tooth Root / Q000473:pathology
D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen