Abstract
The effects of exposure to amoxicillin on tooth development remain to be elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate those effects on rat incisor odontogenesis. Male Wistar rats weighing approximately 100 g were given a single intraperitoneal injection of amoxicillin at 3.0 g/kg of body weight. One week after injection, the rats were euthanized, then the lower incisors were obtained,demineralized, and prepared as paraffin sections for light microscopy (LM) and immunohistochemistry examinations. In addition, non-demineralized samples were embedded in resin and ground for processing for contact microradiography (CMR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Serum calcium, phosphate, and magnesium concentrations were also measured. At 1 week after amoxicillin administration, LM, CMR, and SEM revealed a clear increase in the area of interglobular dentin, representing disruption of mineralization by odontoblasts. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry demonstrated moderate levels of the small integrin-binding ligand N-linked glycoprotein family dentin matrix protein 1 in large areas of interglobular dentin. On the other hand, no morphological alteration or hypo-mineralization was observed in enamel. Serum calcium values showed no significant differences between the control and experimental rats during the experimental period, though serum phosphate and magnesium levels were increased 1 day after amoxicillin injection. Our results suggest that a single dose of amoxicillin specifically affects normal tooth dentin mineralization, but not enamel mineralization in rat incisor odontogenesis. These findings provide additional knowledge of the clinical association between dentin abnormality and amoxicillin exposure during tooth development.
