title: Systemically alendronate was incorporated into dental tissues but did not cause morphological or mechanical changes in rats teeth.
abstract: This study evaluated the effect of the systemic use of sodium alendronate in rats in vivo. Forty-five Wistar rats aged 36 to 42 days and weighing 200 to 230 g were randomly assigned to a control group (n = 20), which received distilled water, and an experimental group (n = 25), which received 2 weekly doses of 1 mg/kg of chemically pure sodium alendronate. The animals were killed after 60 days of treatment. The tibias were removed for analysis of bone mineral density by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Then, the maxillary incisors were extracted for analysis of the mineralized dental tissues using fluorescence spectroscopy (FS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), bright field microscopy (BFM), and cross-sectional microhardness (CSMH) testing. DXA and CSMH data were subjected to statistical analysis by Kruskal-Wallis test (5% significance level). The experimental group presented higher bone mineral density than the control group by DXA. FS analysis revealed presence of alendronate in the mineralized dental tissues of the specimens of the experimental group. Significant morphological differences were not found by SEM and BFM. Enamel and dentin (100 and 300 μm from the dentinoenamel junction) CSMH data did not show significant difference between the control and experimental groups. Based on the obtained results, we conclude that while alendronate increased the bone mineral density and was incorporated into the mineralized dental tissues it did not cause significant alterations in the morphology and microhardness of rat incisor enamel and dentin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Clinics, Preventive and Community Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. nelson@forp.usp.br
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nelson-Filho
authors.forename: Marília Pacífico
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Lucisano
authors.forename: Raquel Assed Bezerra
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Da Silva
authors.forename: Roberto Santana
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Da Silva
authors.forename: Mônica Campos
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.forename: Raquel Fernanda
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Gerlach
authors.forename: Francisco Carlos Rehder
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Neto
authors.forename: Zumira Aparecida
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.forename: Ariane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zamarioli
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Morse
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Battaglino
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D019386:Alendronate / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000818:Animals; D015519:Bone Density; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006245:Hardness Tests; D007180:Incisor / Q000737:chemistry*; D008853:Microscopy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013977:Tibia / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents; D019386:Alendronate