Determination of myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity levels in GCF and tissue samples from patients with adull periodontitis and healthy subjects

-81- SUMMARY Periodontal diseases are bacterial infections. The term periodontitis refers to inflammation of tooth supporting tissues and usually connates progressive destruction of alveoler bone and periodontal ligament. However, recent data indicate that the natural history of periodontal diseases may include both phases of destruction and quiescence. The active stage is characterized by the ongoing loss of supporting bone, connective tissue or clinical attachment and this process is referred to as periodontal disease activity. Active and inactive sites, cannot be distinguished satisfactorily using traditional clinical criteria an it is hoped that analysis of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) will provide more reliable markers of disease activity. Neutrophils contain the necessary material for the phagocytosis on killing pathogenic agents. Myeloperoxidase (MPO), which is present in the azurophilic granules of neutrophils, is one of the enzymes considered to play a role in the host response. Especially in oxygen-mediated defence mechanisms. The aim of the present study was to determine the MPO activity in GCF and gingival tissue samples from patients with Adult-82- Periodontitis (AP) and periodontally healthy subjects. For this purpose 28 patients who were diagnosed as having AP and 28 systemically and periodontally healthy subjects were included in the study. In each subject plaque index, gingival index, attachment loss.gingival bleeding time index and pocket depth measurements were recorded. GCF and gingival tissue samples were obtained from experimental sites of AP patients. All MPO levels for two study groups determined using a spectrophotometric method. Student t test, Mann Whitney U test and correlation analysis were used for this study. Findings of the present study revealed that MPO was present in both GCF and gingival tissue samples in the experimental and control groups. Although gingival tissue MPO levels in AP group were higher then the healthy group, the difference was not statistically significant. However, GCF samples in AP group contained significantly increased MPO activity when compared to healthy group. These results indicate that MPO has a reservoir activity within sulcus and GCF MPO activity levels may help in a better understanding of the ongoing periodontal process and may be useful in monitoring disease activity.