Morphological study of the palatine mucosa in the type 2 diabetes mellitus model rat

Abstract

Hyperglycemia is thought to cause hypertrophy of the mucosal epithelium, atrophy of the connective tissue beneath the mucosal epithelium, and diabetic microangiopathy of the capillaries in the spontaneous type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) rat. To our knowledge, no previous studies have investigated the mucosal epithelium, the connective tissue beneath the mucosal epithelium, or the capillaries of the palatine mucosa in the DM rat. To contribute to knowledge in this field, we investigated the mucosal epithelium (the keratinized, granular, prickle and basal layers), the connective tissue beneath the mucosal epithelium, and capillaries of the palatine mucosa in the DM rat. We then compared morphological differences between normal (N) and DM rats. In addition, we thought that morphological changes might occur in other organs (the palatal gingiva of the maxillary first molar and the lingual gingiva of the mandibular first molar), and we compared morphological differences of other oral organs between N and DM rats.