The European Journal of Orthodontics Advance Access originally published online on May 5, 2006
The European Journal of Orthodontics 2006 28(3):210-216; doi:10.1093/ejo/cji123
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Expression of type X collagen and capillary endothelium in condylar cartilage during osteogenic transition—a comparison between adaptive remodelling and natural growth
* Department of Orthodontics, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University, China
** Department of Orthodontics, West China College of Stomatology, Sichuan University, China
*** Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, China
**** Hard Tissue Biology and Repair Research, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, China
Address for correspondence Gang Shen, Discipline of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Sydney Dental Hospital, The University of Sydney, 2 Chalmers Street, Surry Hills, New South Wales 2010, Australia. E-mail: gshe6437{at}mail.usyd.edu.au
Adaptive remodelling of the condylar cartilage in response to mandibular protrusion constitutes the rationale for bite-jumping appliances to solicit growth modification. By investigating the expression of type X collagen and capillary endothelium, this study was designed to evaluate the osteogenic transition of chondrogenesis during adaptive remodelling of condylar cartilage and compare it with that under natural condylar growth.
One hundred female Sprague–Dawley rats, 35 days of age, were divided into five experimental groups (n = 15, fitted with bite-jumping appliances) where condylar adaptation was created by forward repositioning of the mandible, and five control groups (n = 5) where the condyles underwent natural growth. The animals were sacrificed at 3, 7, 14, 21 and 30 days and 7 µm serial sections of the condyles were processed for in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analyses. The expression of type X collagen in the hypertrophic zone and capillary endothelium in the erosive zone of condylar cartilage were examined to evaluate osteogenic transition, a critical programme leading to endochondral ossification.
The results showed that (1) The temporal pattern of the expression of type X collagen and capillary endothelium during condylar adaptation coincided with that during natural condylar growth. (2) The amount of the expression of these two factors during condylar adaptation was significantly higher than that during natural growth (P < 0.001). It is suggested that condylar adaptation in growing rats triggered by mandibular forward positioning enhances osteogenic transition which eventually results in increased bone formation.