Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Coffee drinking during pregnancy can cause calcium malabsorption in pregnant women and affect fetal tooth development.
OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of caffeine on rat tooth germ development.
METHODS: The Wistar pregnant rats were randomly divided into two groups. In the caffeine group, caffeine was added into the drinking water at 7 days after pregnancy; and in the control group, no caffeine was added into the drinking water. At 20 days after pregnancy, half of pregnant rats in each group were sacrificed to take the fetal rat, and hematoxylin-eosin staining was performed to observed the morphology of tooth germ; the rest half of the pregnant rats in the two groups were administrated till 20 days after delivery, the calcium level in the serum of rat pups was detected and the first molar of rat pups was observed by scanning electron microscope.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The calcium ion content in the serum of rat pups in the caffeine group was lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that compared with the control group, the volume of the tooth germ tissue of the fetal rats in the same period in the caffeine group was reduced and the development was delayed. Electron microscopy results showed that the surface voids on the first molar of the rat pups in the caffeine group after acid etching was more than those in the control group. Caffeine application in the pregnant rats can inhibit the tooth germ development of rat pups, lead to the insufficiency of enamel matrix calcification, and also result in the intolerance etching of the tooth after development.