Inhibition of secondary cartilage of the intermaxillary suture in Sprague-Dawley rats following the enucleation of maxillary molars.

A single craniofacial suture can undergo several morphologic transformations during its development. From 3 to 7 weeks of age, the intermaxillary suture of the rat is synchondrotic in character, featuring secondary cartilage; at later times, this suture is syndesmotic in character, featuring a fibrous tissue interface. Since intermittent mechanical stimulation has been reported to initiate secondary cartilage formation, a study was done to determine if the functioning dentition were responsible for secondary cartilage formation in the intermaxillary suture of the rat. Twenty-two female Sprague-Dawley rats were used. At 3 weeks of age, prior to eruption, the maxillary molars were enucleated from nine animals. Body weights were recorded weekly. Animals were sacrificed weekly from 4 to 7 weeks of age. One hour prior to sacrifice, each rat was injected with [35S]sulfate at a dosage of 2 microCi/g body weight. The tissues were evaluated by light microscopy and autoradiography. In the experimental group, the midpalatal suture did not undergo the normal synchondrotic transformation. Instead, this suture remained fibrous with negligible metachromatic staining. In the control animals, the peak period of [35S]sulfate incorporation was 4 weeks of age and was five times greater than in the experimental group. The primary stimulus for the initiation of secondary cartilage formation in the midpalatal suture of the rat was molar function. Also, functioning molars were found to be important in the maintenance of the palatal bone.