title: Efficacy of azithromycin and metronidazole combined therapy on rats' gingival overgrowth induced by cyclosporine-A: An experimental animal study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of azithromycin (azm) and/or metronidazole (mtz) on the histopathological features of rats' gingival overgrowth (GO) induced by cyclosporine-A (CsA) in an animal model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety male albino rats were divided randomly into six equal groups. The rats of group I received corn oil via gastric feeding for 7 weeks. Group II rats were administered CsA for the same period. Groups III, IV, and V rats received CsA for 6 weeks and simultaneously in the 7th week received a monotherapy of placebo gel, azm suspension, mtz gel, respectively. Group VI rats were handled as groups III, IV, and V and instead received a combined therapy of azm suspension, and mtz gel. Rats were euthanized at the end of the experiment and routine tissue processing was carried out. The obtained specimens were stained with H&E, TGF-β, MMP-1, and IL-6 antibodies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One-way MANOVA test for TGF-β, MMP-1, and IL-6 revealed an overall significant difference between the different groups (P= 0.000). LSD post hoc test for multiple comparisons of TGF-β revealed nonsignificant difference between groups I and VI and between groups IV and V. Nonsignificant difference was found between groups II and III considering the amount of MMP-1 immune expression. In addition, nonsignificant difference was found between groups V and VI regarding the amount of immune expression for IL-6.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Combined therapy of azm suspension and mtz gel significantly improved the histopathological features of CsA-induced GO better than a monotherapy of azm suspension or mtz gel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, Tripoli, Libya.
authors.forename: Mohammed Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Elkabir
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University, Egypt.
authors.forename: Rehab R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: El-Zehery
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Mourad
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Periodontology, Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine, Delta University for Science and Technology, Gamasa, Mansoura, Egypt.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Soliman
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Helal
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Science, Collage of Dentistry, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ali K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Refai
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Oral and Dental Medicine, Delta University for Science and Technology, Gamasa, Mansoura, Egypt; Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohammed E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Grawish
keywords: Azithromycin; Cyclosporin-A; IL-6; MMP-1; TGF-β