Study of a morphometric model for histological evaluation of the collagen in dentin carious lesions.
OBJECTIVE
The guidelines of minimum intervention recommend the maintenance of the affected dentin; in the other hand, there are few methods able to analyze the presence of intratubular collagen. The objective of this study was to assess the collagen structure in carious dentin.


METHODS
Ten collected samples of infected and affected dentin were stained with hematoxilin-eosin (HE) and Sirius Red (SR). The areas intensively stained with SR were delimited and the percentage of these areas was measured by double-blind calibrated examiners. The mean results were subjected to the t-student test. The amount of dentinal tubules and their area (pixels) were evaluated by HE, and subjected to the Mann Whitney test.


RESULTS
The mean of dentinal tubules in the infected dentin was 213.22 and in the affected dentin it was 120.85 (p < 0.05). The mean area of dentinal tubules in the infected dentin was 1175.16 and in the affected dentin was 1420.70 (p > 0.05). The percentage of intratubular organized collagen in the infected dentin was 12.71% and in the affected dentin it was 32.37% (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The histological evaluation of the collagen is a reproducible method to perform the morphometry in carious dentin and the affected dentin presents structured collagen areas where reorganization is possible.
Pontifícia Universidade Cató1ica de Campinas, PUC, Campinas, Rua Raul Gasparini, 525, Bairro Panorama, Residencial Jardim das Palmeiras, Vinhedo, São Paulo, Brazil. psergio@usp.br
Sérgio Luiz
SL
Pinheiro
Amanda Dias
AD
Frasson
Iris Nogueira
IN
Bincelli
Pedro Paulo
PP
Barros
Gustavo Henrique
GH
Silva
D002648:Child; D003094:Collagen / Q000032:analysis*; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000473:pathology*; D003732:Dental Caries Activity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D003737:Dental Cavity Preparation / Q000379:methods*; D003804:Dentin / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008963:Molar / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous
D003094:Collagen