2021 Volume 30 Issue 2 Pages 199-204
The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of high cholesterol condition on apical periodontitis and bone resorption in rats. Six-week-old rats were fed a high cholesterol diet (HCD) and compared to normal diet (ND) rats. The pulp of the first maxillary molar was exposed and apical periodontitis was generated experimentally, and bone resorption was evaluated. At 6 weeks after pulp exposure, apical periodontitis were noted histologically and radial bone resorption was observed in the HCD rats. TRAP staining revealed the number of osteoclasts in the HCD group to be significantly higher than that in ND rats (p<0.05). Significant differences in mRNA expression in toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and RANKL were detected in HCD rats. These results suggest that a high-cholesterol condition promotes apical periodontitis and bone resorption via expression of TLR2 and RANKL in rats.
