The Microarchitecture and Atomic Mineral Composition of the Rats’ Mandibular Condyle Varying Masticatory Functional Loads

This study was performed to determine the microarchitecture of bone and the atoms’ mineral composition in the rats’ mandibular condyle with varying masticatory functional loads by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and SEM energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) examination. A total of 24 three-week-old Wistar male rats were divided into three groups, hard diet (HD), soft diet (SD) and liquid diet (LD). The end of eight weeks, the rats was sacrificed and the right mandibular condyles examined to study the effects of masticatory functional load on bone microarchitecture and atomic mineral composition. Qualitative analysis of SEM images showed that the HD group had smaller spaces between trabeculae and interconnected thick-walled arches compared to the SD and LD groups. SEM-EDX analysis showed the composition of the most dominant atoms in the rat mandibular condylar bone were P, Ca, Cr, Fe, Ni, and Cu. The Ca/P ratio in the HD group was significantly higher than the other groups.The results of this study support the idea that an increase in muscular activity in the masticatory muscles caused by harder consistency of the diet leads to better bone architecture quality and correlates with the properties and quantity of mineral atoms in the mandibular condyle.