title: An Animal Model for Inducing Deviation of the Mandible.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Altering the occlusal surface is still a common choice for inducing a deviated mandible in an animal model. Botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoTx/A) can block the action potential transmission in neuromuscular junctions by inhibiting acetylcholine release without damaging the nerves and muscle structures. Our present study was aimed at developing an easy-to-reproduce animal model of asymmetric mandibles in which injection of BoTx/A was applied.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 96 healthy 4-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups: an experimental group (n = 48) with BoTx/A injection and a control group (n = 48) with sterile saline injection at 4 sites of the right masseter muscle. Twelve rats from each group were humanely euthanized at weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 for morphometric analysis using the micro-computed tomography (CT) findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The micro-CT scans revealed facial asymmetry in the experimental group, with no facial asymmetry in the control group after injection. Significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups regarding the indexes containing the mandibular length (length from condyle to menton, length from coronoid to menton, and length of mandibular corpus from gonion to menton) and ramus height (posterior border and middle region near coronoid, and height of anterior mandible at vertical distance from menton).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data have indicated that this deviated mandible animal model induced by injection of BoTx/A is highly reproducible and might be proved suitable for future studies of the asymmetric mandible.
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Orthodontics, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Stomatology, Shanghai key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhengxi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Orthodontics, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Stomatology, Shanghai key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhenqi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Attending Physician, Department of Orthodontics, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Stomatology, Shanghai key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Professor and Chair, Department of Orthodontics, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Stomatology, Shanghai key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: gangshen9th@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008336:Mandibular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D023421:Models, Animal; D010865:Pilot Projects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D019274:Botulinum Toxins, Type A