Morphological differences in the skull of ascorbic acid-deficient ODS rats.

The physiological importance of ascorbic acid (AsA) in bone formation has been thought to be due mainly to its effects on collagen production and, consequently, matrix formation. However, effects of AsA deficiency on growing animals are poorly understood. The purpose of this experiment was to find how AsA deficiency affects craniofacial growth cephalometrically, and the periodontal ligament and the bone density of alveolar septum histologically. Five-week-old growing male rats with hereditary defects in AsA synthesis (ODS rats) placed on an AsA-deficient or minimally supplemented diet for 4 weeks showed a marked reduction in plasma AsA level and a negative or slight increment in body weight. Cephalometric evaluation revealed that craniofacial growth was influenced by AsA deficiency. Histological observations of periodontal structure and bone density in AsA-deficient animals showed no difference from controls, whereas the periodontal ligament of the upper first molar in the deficient animals was narrower than that of controls. These observations indicate that AsA deficiency reduces craniofacial size and the width of the periodontal ligament significantly in growing rats, whereas bone density is not affected. Thus, AsA, through collagen production, may be important to the increase in size of the craniofacial structures in growing animals.