Investigation of the effect of melatonin support on bone implant fusing of titanium implants placed in rat tibias

Melatonin hormone is closely related to bone metabolism. In people whose melatonin production decreases due to aging or other reasons, adequate osseointegration may not be achieved in implant treatment. Insufficient melatonin production of the pineal gland can be treated with exogenous melatonin supplementation. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of melatonin hormone supplementation on bone implant connection and bone metabolism in rats. For this purpose, the subjects were randomly divided into 4 different groups: Control (n=10), Pinealectomy (n=10), Pinealectomy+melatonin (n=10), Melatonin (n=10). Titanium implants were surgically placed on the right tibia bones of all subjects. In the pinealectomy groups, the pineal gland was removed during implant placement. Melatonin administered groups were given 10 mg/kg melatonin three times a week with physiological saline orally by gavage. All of the subjects were sacrificed after 3 months. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) analyzes were performed from the blood samples taken from the subjects. Bone-implant connection and periimplant bone filling of the samples were analyzed according to the undecalcified histological analysis method. The jaw and femur bone mineral density (BMD) of the subjects were evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of ALP, Ca, P, bone-implant connection, periimplant bone filling and BMD averages (p>0.05). Based on the limited results of our study, we can state that pinealectomy is not a significant disadvantage for osseointegration, and melatonin supplementation with pinealectomy does not affect osseointegration. Key Words: Melatonine hormone, pineal gland, osseointegration, bone implant connection, implant