Reactions of the mandible to experimentally induced asymmetrical growth of the maxilla in the rat.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the interrelation in growth and morphogenesis between the maxilla and the mandible. Asymmetrical growth was induced in the maxilla of 10-day-old LE/T rats by means of unilateral artificial synostosis of the frontonasal and frontopremaxillary sutures. Untreated rats were used as controls. Biometric and microscopic observations were made at the ages of 30, 50, and 100 days. The arrest of sutural growth was followed by reduced sagittal growth of the maxilla, significantly more so on the treated side. Its anterior part became bent towards the treated side and rotated around the sagittal axis. In response to the primary alteration in maxillary shape, the mandible adapted by developing a secondary asymmetry in that it was shorter on the treated side than on the contralateral side throughout the experiment and shorter on the untreated side than in the untreated controls at 30 days. When the distances were adjusted for body weight, the mandibular length on the untreated side appeared to be virtually unaffected by the experimental procedure or even exceeded the control value at 50 days. The mandibular ramus was higher on the treated side than on the contralateral side at 30 days, and became bilaterally higher than in the untreated controls with increasing age. The results imply that the growth in length of the mandible follows that of the maxilla to some extent and are indicative of a restraining effect of the shortened maxilla on mandibular growth. The existence of a mechanism responsible for keeping the height of the ramus the same on both sides is suggested.