Insulin-deficient diabetes impairs osteoblast and periodontal ligament fibroblast metabolism but does not affect ameloblasts and odontoblasts: response to tetracycline(s) administration.

Insulin-deficient, adult, diabetic rats were administrated a tetracycline (either minocycline or a chemically-modified non-antimicrobial tetracycline: CMT) by oral gavage over a 3-week period. Untreated diabetic and non-diabetic rats served as controls. On day 21, all rats received an intravenous injection of 3H-proline, as a radioprecursor of procollagen in bone, dentine and periodontal ligament (PDL) or of amelogenin in enamel; perfusion fixation with an aldehyde mixture was carried out at 20 minutes and 4 hours after isotope injection. The parietal bones (calvaria), mandibules including molars, and lower incisors of these rats were dissected and processed for light microscopic autoradiography to study 3H-proline utilization by osteoblasts, PDL fibroblasts, odontoblasts and ameloblasts. In the control rats, at 20 minutes after 3H-proline injection, silver grains of labeled precursor were detected in the osteoblasts of the periosteal surfaces of the parietal bones. At the 4 hour time period, although some radioprecursor was still present in the osteoblasts, most had progressed to the osteoid matrix. In contrast, the flattened bone-lining cells in the untreated diabetics showed minimal uptake and secretion of labeled proline at both time periods. In both minocycline- and CMT-treated diabetic rats, the labeled proline was localized in the osteoblasts and the osteoid in a pattern reminiscent of that seen in the control rats at both time periods. Of interest, CMT administration appeared to increase the labeling of the osteoid matrix more than minocycline treatment. In non-diabetic control rats, the PDL fibroblasts exhibited a polarized elongated profile and incorporated and secreted radioprecursor similar to that described for the osteoblasts in these animals. The PDL fibroblasts in the untreated diabetics lost their regular arrangement and incorporated little if any 3H-proline; once again, tetracycline administration appeared to normalize, at least in part, the structure and 3H-proline incorporation by these connective tissue cells. In contrast, diabetes and tetracycline administration did not affect the incorporation and secretion of radioprecursor by odontoblasts and secretory ameloblasts during tooth development.