Effects of salbutamol, montelukast and prednisone on orthodontic tooth movement in rats

Objective: To evaluate the effect of salbutamol, montelukast, and prednisone on orthodontic tooth movement in rats. Material and Methods: In vivo experimental preclinical study. The sample consisted of 48 rats randomly distributed in four study groups. Group A was given saline solution; to group B, salbutamol 4 mg/Kg; to group C, montelukast 2.5 mg/Kg and to group D, prednisone 2.5 mg/Kg. All were fitted with orthodontic devices and the medications were administered intraperitoneally every 12 hours for 5 days. The clinical evaluation (variation in the interincisal distance) was performed at one, three, five, and seven days and the histopathological analysis (cell count) at five and seven days. Results: In the clinical evaluation of the variation in the interincisal distance, a significant difference was found in all the evaluations (p <0.05). It was found that the salbutamol group presented higher variation values in the interincisal distance on all the days evaluated. In the histopathological analysis at five and seven days, it was found that the osteoblast and osteocyte count was significantly higher in the salbutamol group compared to the other groups (p <0.05). However, in the subgroup analysis, it was found that there was no significant difference in the osteoblast and osteocyte count between the prednisone, montelukast, and control group (p> 0.05). Conclusion: The administration of salbutamol increased the magnitude of orthodontic tooth movement; nonetheless, the administration of montelukast and prednisone did not modify the magnitude of orthodontic tooth movement in rats.