Traumatic root resorption in dentine-immunized mice

• Published in: American journal of orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics Vol. 103; no. 4; pp. 352 - 357
• Main Authors: Wheeler, Timothy T., Stroup, Suzanne E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Mosby, Inc 1993
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies - blood; Antigens; Cryosurgery; Dentin - immunology; Dentistry; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Immunization; Mice; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Root Resorption - immunology; Tooth Injuries
• ISSN: 0889-5406; 1097-6752
• DOI: 10.1016/0889-5406(93)70016-H

Traumatic root resorption in a mouse model has been shown to coincide with a decline in naturally occurring serum antibody levels to dentin. It has been proposed that root resorption may be dentin antibody mediated. The purpose of this study was to examine the traumatic root resorption response in mice after hyperimmunization with a crude tooth extract (dentin). The hypothesis of this study was that elevated dentin antibody titers would positively correlate with root resorption. Mice were immunized with mouse dentin and controls were sham immunized. All mice were boosted 4 weeks later with or without mouse dentin as appropriate. All mice were then boosted two more times at weekly intervals with mouse dentin and then twice at weekly intervals with rat dentin. The change to rat dentin was made to increase mouse serum antibody titers to dentin. Serum samples were obtained before the initial immunization and weekly after each boost and were examined for antibody-to-dentin antigen by the enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). One week after the second boost with rat dentin, all animals were exposed to the cryoprobe procedure. Mice were killed 10 days later, and serum tested for antibody to dentin antigen. The incisors were examined by scanning electron microscopy, and root resorption quantified. Root resorption was observed on the incisors in the sham-immunized mice but not in the dentin-immunized mice. A trend toward increased serum antibody titers to dentin in immunized mice was observed over time. However, only the serum antibody titers to dentin from preimmune mice and bleed 5 were statistically significant. Sham-immunized animals showed no significant changes in dentin antibody titers throughout the experiment. The data indicate that antibody does not mediate the traumatic root resorption process as originally hypothesized and suggest that hyperimmunization with dentin may protect against traumatic root resorption.