Expression of Fos in the rat forebrain following experimental tooth movement

Orthodontic tooth movement is known to cause pain and discomfort to patients. Mechanically induced inflammatory responses in the periodontium are assumed to be related to the mechanism of pain sensation. An immediate-early gene, c-fos, that is expressed within some neurons following synaptic activation, is widely used as a marker for neuronal activity following noxious or innocuous stimulation. We have recently demonstrated that experimental tooth movement produced Fos induction in the ipsilateral trigeminal subnucleus caudalis and in the bilateral lateral parabrachial nucleus, which is known to be involved in the transmission of nociceptive information. As a further step, we investigated the distribution of Fos-like immunoreactive neurons in the upper brain regions. Twenty-four hours after the commencement of the experimental tooth movement, the Fos-like immunoreactive neurons appeared in the central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce), paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH), and paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PV) of the experimental rats. The numbers of the labeled neurons were significantly increased by 639% (P < 0.001) and 644% (P < 0.001) in the ipsilateral and contralateral sides of the Ce, respectively, by 292% (P < 0.001) and 307% (P < 0.001) in the ipsilateral and contralateral sides of the PVH, and by 264% (P < 0.0001) in the PV with respect to sham control rats. These results suggest that nociceptive information caused by experimental tooth movement might be transmitted and modulated in several regions of the forebrain.