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Vascular remodelling in chronic inflammatory periodontal disease
Author(s) -
Chapple Cheryl C.,
Kumar Rakesh K.,
Hunter Neil
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of oral pathology and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0714
pISSN - 0904-2512
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0714.2000.291004.x
Subject(s) - pathology , basement membrane , periodontitis , connective tissue , immunostaining , junctional epithelium , epithelium , vascular endothelial growth factor , immunohistochemistry , vascular remodelling in the embryo , vascularity , biology , chronic periodontitis , medicine , cancer research , vegf receptors
Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the highly vascularised supporting tissues of the teeth. Little is known about the vascular changes in untreated advanced periodontitis. Using confocal immunofluorescence microscopy and morphometry, we defined and quantified vascular remodelling in this lesion. In the connective tissue subjacent to the altered epithelium lining of the periodontal pocket, there was a significant increase in the numerical density of vascular profiles, primarily accounted for by vessels ≥25 μm in diameter. In addition, vascular basement membranes were thickened and there was accumulation of non‐vascular basement membrane remnants. We investigated the distribution of major angiogenic growth factors in periodontitis using immunohistochemistry. Basic fibroblast growth factor, although consistently associated with blood vessels, showed no regional variation in its distribution. In contrast, there was a marked regional variation in the intensity of immunostaining for vascular endothelial growth factor, with significantly reduced staining of the pocket epithelium. The changes in the vascularity of the periodontal connective tissues in untreated advanced periodontitis may be, in part, a consequence of altered expression of angiogenic activity by the epithelium. In turn, this may reflect the epithelial response to microbial flora in the microenvironment of the periodontal pocket.