DENTAL ABNORMALITIES IN RATS ATTRIBUTABLE TO PROTEIN DEFICIENCY DURING REPRODUCTION

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Abstract
Experiments were conducted with 2 strains of caries-susceptible rats and a strain of caries-resistant rats to determine the influence of a low-protein diet during the reproductive cycle on the development and maintenance of the dental structures. In the offspring of all 3 strains, the low-protein diet caused high mortality during lactation, very low body weights at weaning, reduction in the size of the molars, delay in third molar eruption, high frequency of missing cusps on third molars and increased susceptibility to carious lesions in the occlusal sulci and on the smooth surfaces of the molars. A supplement of 1.0% DL-methionine to the low-protein diet throughout the reproductive cycle led to striking reductions in the frequency of the various abnormalities. Post-weaning administration of this supplement or of an adequate protein diet to offspring of protein-deficient females was too late to correct the abnormalities. Supplements of 0.5 or 2.0% sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate or 1.0% sodium sulfate under comparable conditions were ineffective. The ability of nutritional abnormalities to cause deviations from the genetically established blueprint for development of the dental structures was clearly demonstrated in these studies. However, the deviations from this blueprint were not sufficiently great to mask the genetic identity of any strain.

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