Characterization of enamel caries lesions in rat molars using synchrotron X-ray microtomography
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Dental caries is a ubiquitous infectious disease with a nearly 100% lifetime prevalence. Rodent caries models are widely used to investigate the etiology, progression and potential prevention or treatment of the disease. To explore the suitability of these models for deeper investigations of intact surface zones during enamel caries, the structures of early-stage carious lesions in rats were characterized and compared with previous reports on white spot enamel lesions in humans. Synchrotron X-ray microcomputed tomography non-destructively mapped demineralization in carious rat molar specimens across a range of caries severity, identifying 52 lesions across the 30 teeth imaged. Of these lesions, 13 were shown to have intact surface zones. Depth profiles of fractional mineral density were qualitatively similar to lesions in human teeth. However, the thickness of the surface zone in the rat model ranges from 10 to 58 µm, and is therefore significantly thinner than in human enamel. These results indicate that a fraction of lesions in rat caries possess an intact surface zone and are qualitatively similar to human lesions at the micrometer scale. This suggests that rat caries models may be a suitable analog through which to investigate the structure of surface zone enamel and its role during dental caries.
Source: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation
Language: English
Subfield: Periodontics
Field: Dentistry
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, Northwestern University, National Institutes of Health, Office of Science, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Harvard University, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Division of Materials Research, Argonne National Laboratory
Awards: G102163711, G107546177, G1313983767, G1505794299, G1664757510, G2101401529, G2287611682, G2379832748, G2601659069, G262962599, G2887060908, G2980159964, G3075337988, G318734614, G340565428, G3589692066, G3954585026, G498139845, G5106849484, G513797252, G5607048534, The role of amorphous intergranular phases in the development of caries lesions, G6066762027, G6848031779, G6918803902, G7178204, G7368700025, CEMRI: Multifunctional Nanoscale Material Structures, Nanoscale structure and phase composition of sound and carious enamel, G969889393, G993121649, G993149817
OpenAlex ID: W2748816121