Matrix Metalloproteinase-20 immunolocalization in rat first molar tooth development after treatment with amoxicillin

Abstract

Amoxicillin is one of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in children. It is, therefore, administered as the first choice of antibiotics for respiratory, gastrointestinal, neuronal, and skin infections. This study aimed to determine whether amoxicillin use affects the formation of dentin and enamel during the secretion and early phases of mineralization. Sixteen pregnant adult Wistar rats were equally divided into two groups. The first group that did not receive the drug was prescribed a saline solution (control group), and the other group received 250 mg/kg/day amoxicillin (study group). The treatments were administered daily by oral gavage from the 13th gestation day to the end of gestation. After birth, the newborn also received the same treatment as their mothers from the first day of birth until 7 or 12 days after birth. The newborns will be sacrificed at 7 and 12 days postnatally. The jaws will be dissected, and the maxilla, where the samples are fixed in 10% formaldehyde solution, and the upper first molars will be analyzed. Immunostaining with MMP-20 on day 7 and 12 were performed. A significant difference in the positive expression of ameloblast for MMP20 antibody between groups was observed at 7 days (P = 0.014) and no significant difference at 12 days (P = 0.347). A significant difference for positive expression of odontoblast for MMP20 antibody between groups in both durations was observed at 7 days (P = 0.178) and not a significant difference at 12 days (P = 0.143) and powerful expression in enamel matrix during early mineralization stage in the control group and strong expression in the study group. The current findings indicate that amoxicillin affects the expression of MMP20 during the secretory stage by decreasing the expression of MMP20 in ameloblast, and the expression of MMP20 decrease in cells during the early mineralization stage in both groups at different rate. Keywords: Amoxicillin, Enamel, Immunostaining, MMP20, ameloblast