Background, aims: Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) are the predominant host defence cells in the gingival sulcus. Previous work demonstrates that the in vitro phagocytosis of crevicular cells in localised early onset periodontitis (LEOP) and generalised early onset periodontitis (GEOP) lesions is diminished. The present study extends this work by characterizing the chemotaxis function of crevicular fluid (CF) PMNs in various forms of periodontitis.
Methods: We investigated 7 patients with LEOP, 11 patients with GEOP, 12 patients with adult periodontitis (AP) and 2 age- and sex-matched healthy control groups. The two deepest sites of each quadrant in test and control subjects were selected for crevicular sampling. Chemotaxis was performed in a micro chamber (moist atmosphere, 5% CO2, 37 degrees C, 30 min) using N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP, 1 x 10(-7) mol FMLP/l) as a chemoattractant. The total chemotaxis was defined as the difference between the number of cells migrating towards FMLP minus the number of cells migrating towards PBS, counted in 20 randomly selected fields. Membranes were examined microscopically at 400 x magnification.
Results: The chemotactic activity in the adult periodontitis group was significantly higher compared to the age-related control group. However, we found a statistically significant reduction of chemotactic activity in LEOP and GEOP patients compared to the controls.
Conclusions: These results indicate an increase of chemotactic activity from CF-PMN in patients with adult periodontitis, but on the other hand, a significant reduction of chemotactic responsiveness of these cells in LEOP and GEOP lesions.