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Figure 3. Diabetes increases the loss of attachment, increases apoptosis of PDL fibroblasts, and decreases PDL fibroblast numbers. Rats described in Fig. 1 were examined for loss of attachment in H&E-stained sections (A) and for the number of fibroblasts in the coronal aspect of the PDL space (C). Apoptosis of PDL fibroblasts was determined by the TUNEL assay and expressed as the percent of apoptotic fibroblasts (B). Each value is the mean of 5 to 7 rats ± SE. *Significant difference between diabetics and normoglycemic control rats (P < 0.05).
