Original Article Effect of Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor on Orthodontic Tooth Movement in Rats

Objective: Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a cytokine involved in angiogenesis, tis-sue remodeling and stimulation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts. The present study assesses the effects of a local injection of bFGF on the rate of orthodontic tooth movement. Materials and Methods: In this laboratory animal study, we randomly divided 50 rats into 5 groups of 10 rats each. Rats received 0.02 cc injections of the following doses of bFGF: group A (10 ng), group B (100 ng) and group C (1000 ng). Group D (positive control) re-ceived an orthodontic force and injection of 0.02 cc phosphate buffered saline whereas group E (negative control) received only the anesthetic drug. A nickel titanium spring was bonded to the right maxillary first molar and incisor. After 21 days, the rats were sacrificed and the distance between the first and second right molars was measured by a leaf gauge with 0.05 mm accuracy. ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD statistical tests were used for data analysis. Results: The greatest mean value of orthodontic tooth movement was 0.7700 mm ob-served in group C followed by 0.6633 mm in group B, 0.5333 mm in group A, 0.2550 m