Impact of endodontic and periodontal diseases and treatments on the aorta and liver of obese and non‐obese rats

Abstract

To evaluate the impact of the presence and treatment of periodontal disease (PD) and apical periodontitis (AP) on the aorta and liver of obese and non-obese rats.Methodology: One hundred and forty Wistar rats were divided into two groups, according to the diet administered: normal diet (-n), without obesity; and cafeteria diet (-c), with induced obesity. These groups were divided into seven subgroups according to the specific experimental protocols: naïve control (NC); AP; AP with treatment (APt); PD; PE with treatment (PDt); AP and PD (APPD); and AP and PD with treatment (APPDt). AP and PD lesions were induced for four weeks. Four weeks after treatments, the animals were euthanatized, and the aorta and liver were dissected for histological evaluation. For the comparison of the thickness of the aorta between groups, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used, followed by the Mann-Whitney test. For the analysis of other variables related to the aorta and liver outcomes, logistic regression was carried out.Results: Both PD and AP were associated with the development of histological alterations in the aortic arch, with no significant difference between obese and non-obese animals (p = .17). The aorta thickness was increased significantly (p < .05) with the combination of PD and AP in obese rats (APPDt-c group) compared with the other groups (NC-n, APt-n, APt-c and AP-c). The logistic regression models revealed that the untreated (OR = 7.78; 95%CI = 2.4-25) and treated (OR = 2.9; 95%CI = 1.0-8.4) groups were significantly more likely to have endothelial alterations compared with the control groups (p = .002). Obesity (OR = 16.5; 95%CI = 3.4-81.3) was the only predictor variable of liver steatosis (p < .001). Conclusion:Histological alterations in the aortic arch of obese and non-obese rats were observed in the presence of periodontal disease and apical periodontitis. The combination of PD and AP increased the aorta thickness in obese rats. A reduction of vascular endothelial lesions was observed with the treatments of PD and AP.

Effects of N‐acetyl‐L‐cysteine against apical periodontitis in rats with adriamycin‐induced cardiomyopathy and nephropathy

“…In light of this, experimental investigations involving animal models provide an opportunity to make meaningful comparisons between groups subjected to treatments and those left untreated, with a more effective control over potential confounding variables (Jara et al., 2021; Sehirli et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2016). In our study, the choice of appropriate animal models and meticulous methodology played a pivotal role in the robustness of our findings.…”

“…Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine are metabolites of ammonia and energy metabolism, as well as cursors of hepatic and renal functions, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) are intracellular enzymes that are released into the extracellular environment following cellular damage. Elevated levels of these metabolites and enzymes in the serum are indicative of tissue injury and cell death (Hong et al, 2021;Kutlay et al, 2022). As such, they are commonly employed as diagnostic markers for tissue destruction in conditions such as acute myocardial infarction and chronic kidney disease (Al Malki et al, 2018;Bafna & Balaraman, 2006).…”