Objective: We evaluated the effects of sodium hyaluronate (HY) and carbon nanotubes functionalized with HY (HY-CNT) on bone repair in the tooth sockets of diabetic rats.
Materials and methods: Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin (50 mg kg(-1) i.v.), and the sockets were divided into normal control, diabetic control, diabetic treated with HY (1%), and diabetic treated with HY-CNT (100 μg ml(-1)) groups. The sockets were analyzed according to the percentage of bone formation and the number of cell nuclei.
Results: The percentage of bone trabeculae was lower in diabetic control animals (11.16 ± 5.10% vs 41.92 ± 6.34% in normal animals) after 14 days. Treating diabetic animals with HY or HY-CNT significantly increased the percentage of neoformed trabeculae (HY: 29.43 ± 3.29%; HY-CNT: 36.90 ± 3.07%). Moreover, the sockets of diabetic animals had an increased number of cell nuclei and HY or HY-CNT reduced this parameter.
Conclusion: Our results indicate that HY and HY-CNT restore bone repair in the tooth sockets of diabetic rats, suggesting that these biomaterials are potential adjuvant therapies for the management of diabetes.
Keywords: biomaterials; carbon nanotubes; diabetes; sodium hyaluronate; tooth extraction.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.