Microscopic in‐situ analysis of the mucosal healing around implants treated by protease activated receptor 4‐agonist peptide or perpendicularly protruded type I collagen in rats

Enhanced mucosal sealing around titanium implants can reduce complications such as peri‐implantitis. The present study aims to investigate the mucosal healing at the early stage around the protease activated receptor 4‐agonist peptide (PAR4‐AP)‐ or perpendicularly protruded type I collagen (pCol)‐treated titanium implants. A total of 72 implants were placed in 36 rats in the study. Following extractions, two tissue‐level implants among the following three different surfaces, PAR4‐AP‐coated (PAR4 group, n = 24), pCol‐treated (pCol group, n = 24) and non‐treated (control group, n = 24) ones, were placed in the maxillae of each rat based on a split‐mouth design. The specimens retrieved at 8 h (n = 8 per group), 3 days (n = 8 per group), and 2 weeks (n = 8 per group), were immunostained and tissue‐cleared, and the signals of laminin‐5 and collagen fibers were observed under multiphoton microscopy. Statistical analyses were performed using linear mixed model with post hoc tests to compare differences between the groups. While there was no intergroup difference at 8 h, the laminin‐5 at 3 days was more abundant near the PAR4‐group‐surface, and its area was significantly larger in the PAR4 group (0.0204 ± 0.0194 mm2) than the control (0.0019 ± 0.0025 mm2, p = .001) and pCol (0.0023 ± 0.0022 mm2, p