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Updated: Apr 25, 2026
A Morphometric and Cellular Analysis Method for the Murine Mandibular Condyle
Published on: January 11, 2018
A histologic study of deformation of the mandibular condyle caused by distraction in a rat model
Naoko Sakagami1, Tadaharu Kobayashi2, Kayoko Nozawa-Inoue3
1Graduate student, Division of Reconstructive Surgery for the Oral and Maxillofacial Region, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences; Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Niigata, Japan.
Objective:
This study investigated the bone resorption process of the rat mandibular condyle after mandibular distraction.
Study Design:
Male Wistar rats at 10 weeks of age underwent unilateral mandibular distraction at 0.175 mm per 12 hours for 10 days. Histologic and histochemical analyses were performed at postoperative day 1 and weeks 1 and 3.
Results:
High-resolution computed tomography (micro-CT) observations showed that deformation of the condyle occurred in the anterior region, where a discontinuity of the condylar cartilage layer was found in histologic sections. This destroyed area gathered many osteoclasts. In the central region, disorganization with a thin hypertrophic cell layer was recognizable by day 1 but later thickened. Morphologic recovery of the mandibular condyle could be attained by week 3 in this animal model.
Conclusions:
These morphologic findings indicate that rapid deformation of the condyle, with destruction of the cartilage layer and bone resorption, was caused by artificial distraction.
