USE OF THERMOGRAPHY TO EVALUATE FORMALIN-INDUCED VASCULAR PERMEABILITY ALTERATION IN THE OROFACIAL REGION.

• Grant number: 22/07860-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - General Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Guilherme de Siqueira Branco
• Grantee: Isabelly Gomes Solon
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia de Ribeirão Preto (FORP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In dentistry, acute inflammation in the orofacial region has great relevance, since it favors the production of edema, pain, and discomfort to the patient. The use of experimental models is fundamental for the production of knowledge on the subject. Currently, vascular permeability in the orofacial region is invariably evaluated by means of the Evans Blue test, in murine models. However, this is an invasive test that requires euthanasia of the animal at the end of the test. Thus, the evaluation of molecular mechanisms intrinsic to pain tests in the same experimental animal and, therefore, the association between vascular permeability and the molecular parameters analyzed is unfeasible and, finally, the need to repeat the protocol for new evaluations is created. Thermography, a technique that allows the visualization of light within the infrared spectrum, allows, based on the increase in temperature of a certain area, to identify one of the classic signs of inflammation: heat, i.e., the increase in local temperature. Thus, with the induction of acute inflammation with the injection of formalin, a chemical irritant, the region that is inflamed is easily identified using thermography. In order to assess vascular permeability more efficiently and less invasively, this project will verify whether temperature assessment in the orofacial region using thermography can be used as an indirect assessment of vascular permeability in the orofacial region. In accordance with the 3Rs principle, the use of thermography technique for indirect assessment of vascular permeability will reduce the number of animals and refine this assessment by non-invasive intervention without causing tissue injury.