COMPARISON OF HUMAN POLYMORPHONUCLEAR NEUTROPHIL ELASTASE, POLYMORPHONUCLEAR NEUTROPHIL CATHEPSIN-G, AND ALPHA(2)-MACROGLOBULIN LEVELS IN HEALTHY AND INFLAMED DENTAL PULPS

Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) are found in dental pulp secondar y to carious exposures, peridontal disease, or trauma. Lysosomal degra nulation of these cells liberates cellular proteases, including elasta se (PMN-E) and cathepsin-G (PMN-CG), which produce connective tissue d egradation. However, nonspecific pulpal tissue destruction can be modi fied by a naturally occurring serum protease inhibitor alpha2-macroglo bulin (A2-M). This study relates the concentrations of human PMN-E, PM N-CG, and A2-M in healthy and inflamed pulpal samples. Evaluation of 2 1 specimens yielded statistically significant differences between heal thy and moderate to severely inflamed pulps for all groups (p < 0.05). No significant correlation was detected among human PMN-E, PMN-CG, an d A2-M in the healthy tissues (p > 0.05). However, in the moderate to severely inflamed pulps, there was a significant correlation between P MN-CG and A2-M (p < 0.05).