THE RECOVERY EFFICIENCY OF VARIOUS MATERIALS FOR SAMPLING ENZYMES ANDPOLYMORPHONUCLEAR LEUKOCYTES FROM GINGIVAL CREVICES

The present investigation was designed to assess the effects of strips made of different materials on the recovery of enzymes in gingival cr evicular fluid (GCF) (Experiment 1), and to examine a possible relatio nship between lysosomal enzyme activities and number of crevicular pol ymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, GCF was collected with capillaries from 14 patients with periodontal disea se, and applied on various test strips in microcentrifuge tubes or dir ectly into tubes (controls). Strips were then shaken and centrifuged t o elute GCF enzymes. The supernate was used for determinations of alka line phosphatase (ALP), beta-glucuronidase (BG) and aspartate aminotra nsferase (AST) activities. The % recoveries were calculated as relativ e percentages to controls. When using saline as eluent, 90% or more AL P, BG and AST were found to be recovered from strips of durapore and p apers. More than 35% of ALP and BG was found to remain on paper points . However, the % recoveries from paper points were improved using elue nt with 0.1% (w/v) cetyl pyridinium chloride. In Experiment 2, 54 GCF samples were collected from 3 periodontitis patients by using durapore strips, in order to measure both PMN numbers and BG activities in the same samples. The 2 parameters showed strong and positive correlation with 0.847 (p < 0.001) of the Pearson's correlation coefficient. Thes e findings suggest that durapore is a useful material not only for cou nting PMNs but also for measuring activities of GCF enzymes. Elevation of BG activities in GCF can be due to increasing numbers of PMNs.