Volume 53 (2003) Issue: 2003 No#5-6

LATE MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE MOLAR PULP OF WISTAR RATS WITH ALLOXAN INDUCED DIABETES

Author(s): Radujković-Kuburović Gordana, Vukobratović S, Jovović Đurđica

Keywords:Diabetes mellitus, alloxan, dental pulp, blood vessels

The aim of this study was examination of late changes in the dental pulp of rats with experimental diabetes. The experiment involved 36 male albino rats, initially 35 days old and 89.45
9.95 g body wight. The animals were separated into 6 equal groups. The first (T1), third (T2) and fifth (T3) groups of animals were given a single dose of alloxan tetrahydrate, approximately 80 mg/ kg body weight. Just before the application, the substance was dissolved in physiological saline, and each animal was given 1 ml in the tail vein. The second (C1), fourth (C2), and sixth (C3) group of animals were used as appropriate control groups and received 1 ml of physiological saline injection. Body weights were measured and glycemia was checked weekly. The animals in groups T1 and C1 were sacrificed on the 63rd day, groups T2 and C2 on the 95th day and groups T3 and C3 on the 125th day by decapitation. The block of mandibular molars was taken for histological examination. The results of histological examinations showed stasis, in microcirculation, as well as in large blood vessels of the pulp, and necrosis of the pulp tissue in animals after 63 days of experimental diabetes. Pulps of the animals killed after 95 days showed, besides massive pulp necrosis, abscess forms localized in the mesial horn of the pulp. This evidence was not present in every animal from group T2. Pulps of the animals sacrificed after 125 days showed hydropic degeneration of the pulp with massive and diffuse presence of vacuoles in odontoblasts.