Figure 1.

Establishment of a murine model of titanium dental implants. (A) Schematic presentation of the experimental setting for insertion of titanium dental implant. Four weeks after tooth extraction two dental implants were inserted in the first and second molar regions of the alveolar bone. The mice were treated for 1 week with antibiotics in the drinking water and soft diet and analyzed 2, 4, and 10 weeks later. (B) Bar graph demonstrates the average cumulative survival rate of both implants in nine independent experiments (n = 3–25 implanted mice per experiment). The red line indicates the weighted average mean value. (C) Mouse weight in implanted and control mice during 10 weeks post implant insertion, presented as the mean ± SEM (n = 3–25 mice per group). Representative results of one out of four independent experiments are presented. (D) Images of H&E and Picrosirius red staining of the gingiva, peri-implant mucosa, and bone taken at 2, 4, and 10 weeks after implant insertion. The upper images visualize the orientation of the tissue with respect to the location of interest presented as squares. White asterisk marks the junctional epithelium (JE) around teeth and its equivalent the barrier epithelium (BE) around implants. Black arrows indicate empty osteocyte lacunae. White dotted arrows specify the collagen bundle orientation in the tissues. Representative results of one out of three independent experiments are presented. In each experiment, at least three mice per group were examined. Abbreviations: EPI, epithelium; Bm, basement membrane; LP, lamina propria; PDL, periodontal ligament; AB, alveolar bone.