Lithium carbonate accelerates the healing of periapical periodontitis

Abstract

We previously reported on the restorative properties of lithium chloride (LiCl) for periapical periodontitis using in vivo murine experiment. In this report, looking ahead to potential human clinical applications, we investigated the restorative properties of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) in the healing process of periapical periodontitis. If the application of Li2CO3 into root canals also confers the healing ability for periapical periodontitis, Li+ has the healing ability for periapical periodontitis. In this report, we used rats instead of mice in our experiments. From rat root canal treatment model experiments, we found that the application of Li2CO3 in the treatment of root canals was not only safe for the rat subjects, but it also conferred restorative properties to accelerate the healing of periapical periodontitis. The application of Li2CO3 induced CD68/CD206-double positive cells (i.e., M2 macrophages) and Foxp3-positive cells (i.e., regulatory T cells) in the rats’ periapical lesions at an early stage of inflammation. After 24 h from the application of Li2CO3, Axin2 positive cells were observed in periapical lesion. Our findings demonstrated that Li2CO3 activates the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and accelerates the healing process, making it a potential novel intracanal medicament for periapical periodontitis.