Establishment of a rat model for alveolar cleft with bone wax.

Abstract

PURPOSE: Although treatment of cleft lip and cleft palate is becoming standardized, treatment of alveolar cleft remains controversial. Thus, preclinical animal work remains necessary to improve clinical outcome. This study established an alveolar cleft model in the rat. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Maxillary first molars were extracted to create a 4- × 4- × 3-mm complete alveolar cleft on the right and left sides in 25 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. The left cleft was filled with bone wax and the right side remained untreated. Animals were sacrificed at 0, 4 and 8 weeks after surgery. Harvested alveolar cleft samples were evaluated by micro-computed tomographic and histologic analyses. RESULTS: The healing rate and osteoblast activity of the left cleft were less than those of the right cleft. CONCLUSION: This model of a critical-size alveolar cleft can be used efficiently for the therapeutic evaluation of novel techniques for the treatment of alveolar cleft.