Heart tissue alterations in animal models of periodontitis – a systematic literature review

Resumo

The inflammatory process caused by periodontitis is associated with systemic repercussions and other non-communicable chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. Objective: To conduct a systematic review on cardiac tissue alterations in animals with experimental periodontitis following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (Prisma) guidelines. Material and methods: The systematic literature search employed PubMed, SciELO, Medline, Lilacs, and Scopus databases. Experimental studies using animal models of experimental periodontitis that evaluated cardiac tissue were deemed eligible. The search strategy yielded 1548 articles, from which 13 experimental studies were selected based on the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were then qualitatively analyzed and tabulated. Study quality was assessed using the Systematic Review Center for Laboratory Animal Experimentation (Syrcle) risk of bias tool for animal studies. Results: Studies showed cardiac tissue alterations induced by experimental periodontitis in animals, potentially leading to various pathological processes in the heart, characterized by elevated levels of oxidative stress biomarkers in cardiac tissue, increased serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), IL-1β, IL-10, and C-reactive protein (CRP), and histological changes in cardiac tissue. Conclusion: This review provides evidence regarding cardiac tissue alterations in animals with experimental periodontitis, suggesting that changes in cardiac tissue may occur in animals with this inflammatory condition; however, we found that the literature is limited. Therefore, further studies are necessary to validate and elucidate the mechanisms linking cardiovascular diseases to periodontitis.