Condylar Degradation from Decreased Occlusal Loading following Masticatory Muscle Atrophy

Figure 1

Histological changes and atrogin-1/MuRF-1 immunohistochemical staining of masseter muscles in the control, SD, and BTX groups. After 4 weeks of treatment, H-E staining of masseter muscle revealed an obvious atrophic condition in the BTX group, whereas no difference in the SD group was seen (a–c, j). The distinctive expression of atrogin-1/MuRF-1 could be easily found in the BTX group compared to that in the control and SD groups (d–i) (p<0.05;p<0.01;p<0.001). Bar=100 μm.

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