GINGIVAL HYPERTROPHY AND CYCLOSPORINE - E FFECT OF SERA FROM TREATED PATIENTS ON FIBROBLAST PROLIFERATION

One of the secondary effects of Cyclosporin-A (CsA) treatment is gingi val hypertrophy. This lesion consists of a hyperplasia due to fibrobla st proliferation of gingival connective tissue and to fibrosis as a co nsequence of an increase of the extracellular matrix. To examine the C sA effects at cell level we have studied the influence of the drug as well as that of the sera from patients treated with this immunosupress or, on fibroblast proliferation in vitro. The results were expressed a s Index/40 representing the times that the problem serum stimulates th e thymidine uptake versus the normal serum when cells are incubated wi th 40 % of sera. CsA concentrations between 1,200 and 4,800 mug/ml inh ibited fibroblast proliferation. For a 15 patient group with various r enal pathologies (IR) the Index/40 was 1.04 +/- 0.1 and 0.90 +/- 0.14 after 48 and 96 incubation hours respectively. For 23 CsA treated pati ent (CsA) the Index/40 was 0.89 +/- 0.15 (p < 0.05) and 0.77 +/- 0.35 (p < 0,05) after 48 and 96 incubation hours respectively. No differenc es were observed in fibroblast stimulation in the groups with differen t grades of gingival hypertrophy and no correlation was found in the C sA levels and fibroblast proliferation. We conclude that the sera from the CsA treated patients induce a higher inhibitory effect on cellula r proliferation than that induced by this immunosupressor at the same concentrations as the ones present in the sera. Consequently, other fa ctors that could explain the inhibition we observed should be investig ated.