[Studies on caries of Ishibashi rat--III. Experimental caries in Ishibashi rat]

Dental caries was experimentally induced in the Ishibashi rats (ISR) by feeding them with conventional diets or with caries-producing diets, and the pattern and severity of their induced carious lesions were compared with those of the Sprague-Dawley rats (SD). Simultaneously, serum antibody titers against Streptococcus mutans and calcium and phosphorus concentration in the sera and in the femurs were compared between the ISR and SD. The results were as follows: 1. When judged by cavities, ISR showed a higher carious incidence and average number of cavities per one rat than the SD, whichever diet the rats were fed. 2. When judged by fissure caries observed on the thin sections of the teeth, both the carious incidence and average number of fissure lesions in the ISR were not always high compared with those in the SD, and there seemed to be a great variation of caries-susceptibility in the ISR. 3. Caries in the ISR seemed to be more progressive than that in the SD. 4. There were no differences in the serum antibody titers against the S. mutans between the ISR and SD. 5. No differences in the concentration of calcium and phosphorus in the sera and femurs were observed between the ISR and SD, whichever diet they were fed.