ASSOCIATION OF CREVICULAR FLUID ELASTASE-LIKE ACTIVITY WITH HISTOLOGICALLY-CONFIRMED ATTACHMENT LOSS IN LIGATURE-INDUCED PERIODONTITIS IN BEAGLE DOGS

Experimental periodontitis was induced using ligatures in 6 beagle dog s over 57 days. Levels of elastase like activity in healthy sites, gin givitis sites, and in sites ligated for different time points were ana lyzed with respect to levels of histologically confirmed attachment lo ss. Attachment loss increased with increasing periods of ligation and reached a maximum of 0.15 mm at 57 days. Maximum loss of histological attachment was found to coincide with the period of maximum enzyme act ivity; during the first 7 days of ligature. Spearman correlation analy sis of enzyme activity with attachment loss yielded a significant corr elation (0.73, p = 0.0396). The healthy and gingivitis sites were foun d to have minimal levels of enzyme activity throughout. Thus, this pro spective study in beagle dogs found a relationship between histologica lly confirmed attachment loss and increased levels of elastase like ac tivity indicating the probable usefulness of this parameter, either al one or in conjunction with other markers, for disclosing active period ontitis.