Influence of decline of occlusal support on bilateral striatal dopamine release in rats

概要

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Sensory inputs from the periodontal membrane play a role in brain activation and regulate various functions or reflexive feedback. We investigated the possibility of a correlation between striatal function and loss of occlusal support. Eighteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups : the EXT Group (n=6) had all three maxillary molars on both sides extracted ; the EXT-R Group (n=6) had the right maxillary molars extracted ; and the CON Group (n=6) served as a control. Dopamine levels in the bilateral striatum were measured using in vivo microdialysis. Once the extracellular basal concentrations of dopamine were stable, the rats were fed pellets and the food-induced changes in dopamine concentrations were monitored every 10 min for 2 h. In the CON group, feeding induced a significant increase in dopamine concentrations on both sides of the striatum. However in the EXT and EXT-R Groups, no significant increase was observed. This result indicated that even if rats lost occlusal support unilaterally, food-induced dopamine release was impaired bilaterally in the dorsal striatum, and this impairment was associated with occlusal support loss that affected the contralateral striatum.