Aloe vera as vehicle to mineral trioxide aggregate: study in bone repair

AIM: Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) was associated to Aloe vera to verify the coadjutant action of that medicinal plant in the bone neoformation process in tibia of rats.MATERIAL AND METHOD: 36 male rats (Rattus norvegicus) were used, divided into two groups of 18 rats each. Two circumferential bone defects with approximately 5 mm in diameter were made on the right tibia of each animal: the upper defect was filled with blood coagulates in both groups to serve as experimental control and the lower defect was filled with MTA and Aloe vera in experimental (group E1) and MTA and distilled water in experimental (group E2). Seven, 15 and 30 days after surgery, six animals from each group were euthanized and the right tibia of each animal was removed for histological analysis.RESULT: Histologically, experimental group E1 presented better results for the two variables, inflammation [at seven days (p=0.045)] and bone formation [at seven days (p=0.018) and 30 days (p=0.034)], compared to the E2 group.CONCLUSION: The association of MTA and Aloe vera showed potential to reduce the effects of the inflammatory cascade and promote bone neoformation making it to a promising proposal for future use in endodontic therapy.

研究目的：将三氧化矿物凝聚体（Mineral trioxide aggregate, MTA）与芦荟（Aloe vera）联合应用，以验证该药用植物在大鼠胫骨骨新生过程中的辅助作用。
材料与方法：选取36只雄性挪威大鼠（Rattus norvegicus），随机分为两组，每组18只。对每只大鼠的右侧胫骨制备2个直径约5mm的环形骨缺损：两组的上方缺损均以血凝块填充，作为实验对照；实验组（E1组）的下方缺损填充MTA与芦荟联合制剂，对照组（E2组）的下方缺损填充MTA与蒸馏水。分别于术后7、15、30天，每组处死6只大鼠，摘取右侧胫骨进行组织学分析。
结果：组织学检测结果显示，与E2组相比，E1组在两项观测指标上均表现更优：术后7天的炎症反应（p=0.045），以及术后7天（p=0.018）和30天（p=0.034）的骨形成水平。
结论：MTA与芦荟的联合制剂可有效减轻炎症级联反应、促进骨新生，有望成为未来牙髓治疗（endodontic therapy）的潜在应用方案。