Induction of Experimental Peri-Implantitis with Strains Selected from the Human Oral Microbiome

Abstract

Peri-implantitis (PI), the most widespread condition in the oral cavity, affects patients globally; thus, advanced research in both in vitro and in vivo studies is required. This study aimed to develop peri-implantitis in the rat model by oral contamination with bacteria responsible for PI in humans. The study was carried out in three stages: the extraction of the maxillary first molar to reproduce the human edentation, the mounting of the implant, and finally, the contamination of the device by gavage with Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Streptococcus oralis. The hematological examinations showed statistically significant increases for WBCs (white blood cells), Hb (hemoglobin), RBCs (red blood cells), MCH (mean corpuscular hemoglobin), MCHC (mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration), and PLTs (platelets), but especially for the level of neutrophils and lymphocytes, and the systemic immunoinflammatory index completed the picture related to the inflammatory response triggered as a result of the activity of microorganisms pathogens on oral tissues. By examining the liver and kidney profile, we hypothesized that peri-implantitis is associated with systemic diseases, and the histopathological examination showed peri-implantitis lesions characterized by a marked inflammatory infiltrate with numerous neutrophils and lymphocytes. By corroborating all the results, we successfully developed a rat peri-implantitis model using a mixed bacterial infection through the oral gavage technique.

Keywords

• peri-implantitis
• rats
• oral microbiome
• <i>Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans</i>
• <i>Fusobacterium nucleatum</i>
• <i>Streptococcus oralis</i>