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Updated: Nov 21, 2025
Murine Model of Advanced Periodontitis Induced by Nylon Ligature in the Second Upper Molar
Published on: May 30, 2025
Periodontal diseases and depression: A pre-clinical in vivo study
María Martínez1, David Martín-Hernández2,3,4, Leire Virto5
1Postgraduate program in Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Complutense University, Madrid (UCM), Madrid, Spain.
Aim:
To analyse, through a pre-clinical in vivo model, the possible mechanisms linking depression and periodontitis at behavioural, microbiological and molecular levels.
Materials And Methods:
Periodontitis (P) was induced in Wistar:Han rats (oral gavages with Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum) during 12 weeks, followed by a 3-week period of Chronic Mild Stress (CMS) induction. Four groups (n = 12 rats/group) were obtained: periodontitis and CMS (P+CMS+); periodontitis without CMS; CMS without periodontitis; and control. Periodontal clinical variables, alveolar bone levels (ABL), depressive-like behaviour, microbial counts and expression of inflammatory mediators in plasma and brain frontal cortex (FC), were measured. ANOVA tests were applied.
Results:
The highest values for ABL occurred in the P+CMS+ group, which also presented the highest expression of pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-1β and NF-kB) in frontal cortex, related to the lipoprotein APOA1-mediated transport of bacterial lipopolysaccharide to the brain and the detection of F. nucleatum in the brain parenchyma. A dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress axis, reflected by the increase in plasma corticosterone and glucocorticoid receptor levels in FC, was also found in this group.
Conclusions:
Neuroinflammation induced by F. nucleatum (through a leaky mouth) might act as the linking mechanism between periodontal diseases and depression.
