LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT PROTEINS IN HUMAN GINGIVAL CREVICULAR FLUID

Samples of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) were collected in 30 volunt eers with inflamed gingiva, using either capillary tubes (cGCF) or Dur apore strips (sGCF). They were examined, together with samples of seru m from the same patients, by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide ge l electrophoresis and/or by two-dimensional electrophoresis, followed by silver staining. The results confirmed that the distribution of the major proteins in GCF is similar to that found in serum. However, an 8.5 kDa protein was found in gingival fluid but not in serum. The low molecular-weight protein appears to decrease with time of fluid sampli ng with both techniques, and does not originate either from blood or f rom the cellular fraction of GCF. Two-dimensional electrophoretic anal ysis suggested that it may consist of several polypeptides. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.