Abstract
Cancer is the second most frequent cause of death in children. Because the prognosis for childhood malignancies has improved, attention has now focused on long‐term consequences of cancer treatment. The immediate effects of chemotherapy on soft tissues have been well described; however, there is less information about long‐term effects of chemotherapy on the development of dental tissues. To test the association between the effect of chemotherapy on enamel development, we examined two groups of rats: one that had received an intraperitoneal dose of 200 mg/kg of irinotecan, whereas the other (control) group had received vehicle only. Rats were killed at 6, 48 and 96 hr post‐injection; the mandibles dissected out, fixed for histological evaluation and scanned for mineralization defects by Micro‐CT. Our results showed structural changes in the ameloblast layer along with a significant reduction in mineralization and thickness of enamel at 96 hr after chemotherapy. These data demonstrate that irinotecan induces structural changes in forming enamel that become apparent after anticancer chemotherapy treatment.
Highlights
Treatment for different types of childhood cancer has greatly improved over the past 20 years
Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine
As shown by H&E staining, ameloblasts treated with irinotecan (96 hr) lost polarity and became short and round in the maturation stage
Summary
Treatment for different types of childhood cancer has greatly improved over the past 20 years. A variety of late effects of childhood cancer therapy can be noted because many organs can be affected, including the oral cavity[1,2]. The most commonly observed late effects of radiotherapy to the head and neck are included reduced salivary flow and xerostomia, mucosal infections, dental caries, increased progression of periodontitis, dysphagia, trismus and bone alterations that may result in osteoradionecrosis and, in children, Most oral complications of cytotoxic anticancer (e.g. mucositis, salivary gland dysfunction, mucosal infections and taste alterations) resolve after discontinuation of therapy[9]. The extent and nature of these oral complications vary with each patient depending on the treatment modality (i.e. surgery, radiation therapy and/ or chemotherapy) and patient-related factors including genetic factors, age, oral health status and type of malignancy (WHO 1979). In contrast to the acute oral complications, dental abnormalities and orofacial growth disturbances induced by chemotherapy for paediatric malignancies are permanent[6, 7, 9,10,11,12,13]
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