Studies on the Nature and Significance of Collagen in Experimentally Induced Oral Submucous Fibrosis in Rats.

Abstract

SummaryOral submucous fibrosis (OSMF), a disease condition essentially found in Indians and southeast Asians has drawn attention mostly on the grounds of epidemiological and clinical manifestations, whereas the etiology is still uncertain. Since all OSMF patients are habitual chewers, it was thought ideal to experimentally induce OSMF in rats using betelnut extracts thereby establishing the toxic nature of betelnut. OSMF has been defined as a collagen disorder and the total collagen and collagen fractions in the different groups were analyzed. There was an increase in total collagen content and an increase in soluble fraction was also observed representing newly synthesized collagen. The group treated with panmasala, a commercial preparation available which is a combination of betelnut, tobacco, lime and spices showed no changes due to its chemopreventive efficacy. The importance of the results expected is that the causation and cure of many diseases involving collagen now lack a scientific basis. The results it is hoped would provide a means for classification of diseases at structural and molecular level so as to highlight a causal nexus between clinical expression of the disease and altered structural and compositional changes in OSMF.

Systemic effect of arecoline on the gastrointestinal system in oral submucous fibrosis affected wistar rats

“…Even though changes in the epithelium were observed after 3 months of the administration, the typical features of OSMF were seen after 6 months of the administration. [ 20 ]…”