Purpose: To investigate the effect of hydrogen rich water on experimental gingivitis in SD rats during pregnancy.
Methods: Female SD rats mated with male ones were chosen to induce experimental gingivitis after ligation for 2 weeks. The pregnant rats were randomly divided into control group, model group and HW group. In the control and model group, rats were given pure water, while animals in the HW group were given hydrogen-rich water twice a day. All pregnant animals were sacrificed on day 16 of pregnancy. The level of Prog, SOD and TNF-α in the gingiva of different groups were measured by ELISA, the expression of PR, NFκB and TNF-α were determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. SPSS 13.0 software package was used for data analysis.
Results: Pregnancy gingivitis of SD rats could be induced by thread ligation. PR was mainly distributed in the gingival epithelium, while there was no significant difference of Prog and PR in the gingiva among different groups(P>0.05). Furthermore, in the model group, lower SOD level as well as higher NFκB and TNF-α level were found in the gingiva. Compared with the model group, the inflammatory response of pregnancy gingivitis in HW group was significantly suppressed along with decreased NFκB and TNF-α.
Conclusions: Progesterone and its receptor may play an indirect role in the process of pregnancy gingivitis of rats. Hydrogen rich water may be beneficial in suppressing pregnancy gingivitis progress by decreasing inflammatory response related to gingival oxidative stress.