INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL TRAINING ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF APICAL PERIODONTITIS IN MICE

• Grant number: 24/16074-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Endodontics
• Principal Investigator: Gisele Faria
• Grantee: Rosmeli Daysi Coasaca Rivera
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOAr). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Physical training has many benefits for general health, including the positive modulation of the imune system and the prevention and control of certain inflammatory diseases, since it can generate an anti-inflammatory response. Individuals who exercise continuously at a moderate intensity have lower concentrations of inflammatory markers in their blood than sedentary individuals. Apical periodontitis (AP) is the result of an immune-inflammatory response to infection of the root canal system, which can be influenced by systemic factors. The aim of this study is to assess whether moderate treadmill running training influences the development of AP in mice. Forty wild-type (WT) male mice of the C57BL/6 strain, at 8 weeks of age will be used and distributed into 4 groups (n=10 per group): group with AP/without exercise, group with AP/with exercise, group without AP/with exercise, group without AP/without exercise.After adapting to physical exercise on a treadmill for one week, the mice will train for four weeks before inducing AP and will continue training for another four weeks after this induction. To induce AP, the lower first molars will be opened bilaterally, and the pulp chamber will be kept exposed to the oral environment for 4 weeks. After this (at the end of 8 weeks of training), the animals will be euthanized. Blood and mandible will be collected. A hemimandible will be fixed in paraformaldehyde, scanned in a microtomograph to assess the bone tissue and submitted for histopathological analysis. Inflammation in the periapical region will be analyzed in histological sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and in sections submitted to immunohistochemical analysis to mark inflammatory mediators. The tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) assay will be used for the histochemical identification of osteoclasts. In the other hemimandible, the roots of the first molars and the adjacent bone will be collected and prepared for analysis of the expression of the messenger RNA of genes related to inflammation and osteoclastogenesis (IL-1¿, IL-6, TNF-¿, RANKL, OPG, cathepsin K and ¿-actin). The cytokines IL-1¿, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-¿ in the blood samples will be analyzed using an ELISA immunoassay. The data will be analyzed using the Graph Pad Prism 9 statistical program, with a significance level of 5%.