Oral tissue response to ovine grafting biomaterial: morphological and morphometric study using scanning electron and...

To evaluate the oral tissue response to an experimental particle ovine biomaterial by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM).

Forty-eight rats had surgical periodontal defects treated with either blood clotting (control), bovine biomaterial™ (B), or an experimental ovine biomaterial (O). Data from SEM analysis (defect exposure, root surface exposure, diameter of matrix fibers and bundles, and globuli areas; n = 5) were applied to Shapiro-Wilk, Kruskal-Wallis, and Dunn's test, whereas LM analysis (tissue cicatrization characteristics and diameter defect; n = 3) had data applied to two-way analysis of variance. Animals were monitored for 1 and 3 weeks.

By SEM, the O samples showed significant differences from B and C in the area of defect exposure (H(2,15) = 8.66; P < 0.05). In both periods, O and B samples showed similar results for matrix fiber diameters, differently than C samples (H(2,15) = 14.0; P < 0.05). All other SEM variables were considered equivalent among the groups (P > 0.05). Under LM, an acute and chronic granulomatous inflammation was seen in the presence of both biomaterials (B and O, 1 week); both the control and the ovine grafting samples showed mature bone in the repair site (3 weeks); the defect diameter showed similar values among groups, at both monitoring periods (F(2,12) = 1.0401; P > 0.05).

The ovine particles of this study showed a favorable response to oral tissue repair, demonstrating to be a potential source for the development of bone grafting biomaterials.