ADVANCES IN PERIODONTAL DIAGNOSIS 9 - POTENTIAL MARKERS OF CELL-DEATHAND TISSUE DEGRADATION

This paper describes the potential markers of cell death and connectiv e tissue degradation which might serve as markers of periodontal disea se activity. The first section deals with enzymes released by dead and degenerating cells. Firstly, it describes how these pass from the per iodontal tissues into gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and explains tha t these enzymes have been used as markers of cell death in medicine fo r several decades. It then discusses the main enzymes in this group, a spartate amino transferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and r eviews those studies which have attempted to relate these enzymes to p eriodontal disease severity and activity. Secondly, it describes the p otential markers of connective tissue degradation, fibronectin, hydrox yproline-containing peptides and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and explain s how these are produced. Finally, it describes the only commercial te st kit for markers in this group (GCF-AST).