Induced arthritis in temporomandibular joint: histopathological aspects in animal model

Abstract

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a synovial joint that repre- sents the junction of mandible with skull. TMJ and mastication muscles are affected by tempo- romandibular disorders (TMDs). Patients with TMDs may suffer a large number of symptoms: muscle and TMJ pain, headaches, diffuse or facial jaw pain, temporomandi- bular sounds. The aim of this stu- dy was to investigate the arthritis model in rabbit’s TMJ. Ten adult male New Zealand White rabbits were included in the study. Ar- thritis was unilaterally induced with an intra-articular injection of ovalbumin in the left TMJ. On the contra-lateral side, the same dose of saline was injected. His- topathological sections showed an infiltrated of inflammatory mo- nonuclear and polymorphs cells in arthritic TMJ. On the contra- lateral side, there was absence of inflammatory cell infiltration. In conclusion, this study shows that it is possible to obtain an arthritis model in rabbit’s TMJ. Key words: arthritis, temporo- mandibular joint, histopathologi- cal aspects.