Periapical lesions are processes mediated from bacterial invasion on the pulp tissue, which results in inflammatory process and bone resorption. Animal models have been used for the study of cell interactions and inflammatory responses involved in periapical lesion. The use of different methods for morphometric evaluation of this lesion has been reported. However, due to the limitation of 2D methods, computerized microtomography (µCT) has been indicated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the histomorphometric measures of periapical lesions and the µCT analysis obtained in an animal experimental model. Briefly, the periapical lesions were induced by pulp exposal and after the experimental periods (7, 21 and 42 days) the mice were euthanized. The mandibles were evaluated under the µCT scanning and then were subjected to the routine histologic procedures, stained with hematoxilin and eosin. The periapical lesions were measured by the specific softwares of each technique. A weak correlation among the histomorphometric measurement and the 2D µCT analysis (r(2)= .204) and between the histomorphometric measurement and the 3D µCT analysis (r(2)= .237) was observed. A strong correlation between the 2D and 3D µCT analysis (r(2)= .867) was observed. Thereby, it can be concluded that the µCT is a method that allows a precise volumetric scanning and represents an important tool for morphometric evaluation.
Keywords: Micro-computed tomography; mice; periapical lesion.