[Adaptive change of masseter muscle after the ostectomy of mandibular angle in rabbits]
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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Rodent Model of Masseter Volumetric Muscle Loss for Studying Bioengineering Materials
Published on: May 31, 2024
1Department of Orthopedics, Jiangyin People's Hospital, Jiangsu, Jiangyin 214400, China.
Objective:
To study the changes of masseter muscle after reducing the mandibular by measuring some relative index after ostectomy of the mandibular angle along arch line.
Methods:
Left mandibular angle ostectomy was performed on New Zealand female rabbits aged three months. The right was not operated as control groups. Five rabbits were examined at the following intervals: 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 weeks.
Results:
There were remarkable decreases in the experimented masseter muscle masses and the same type muscle fiber areas compared with the control group (P < 0.05). As for the fiber types, a decrease in type I fibers and an increase in type II fibers were noticed on operative side masseters (P <0.05). Sarcomere lengths in the operative side muscles were significantly reduced and showed statistical significance during first 4 weeks (P < 0.05), but there was no difference between the operative group and the control group after 8 weeks (P > 0.05).
Conclusions:
The changes of masseter fibres show reconstruction of masseter muscle after mandibular angle ostectomy.

