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Copper–zinc superoxide dismutase activity in healthy and inflamed human dental pulp
Author(s) -
Varvara G.,
Traini T.,
Esposito P.,
Caputi S.,
Perinetti G.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
international endodontic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.988
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1365-2591
pISSN - 0143-2885
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2591.2005.00936.x
Subject(s) - superoxide dismutase , zinc , pulp (tooth) , copper , dentistry , chemistry , medicine , biochemistry , materials science , metallurgy , enzyme
Aim To examine copper–zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu, Zn‐SOD) activity in clinically healthy and symptomatic human dental pulps. Methodology Twenty‐five systemically healthy patients, 14 females and 11 males (age: 13.1–34.6 years; mean: 21.7 ± 6.3), were the source of the pulp tissue. The condition of the pulps was assessed using clinical and radiographic evaluation. The pulp tissue was collected by longitudinally grooving and splitting the teeth (if extracted) or during endodontic treatment, and were age‐ and sex‐matched between the healthy and the irreversible symptomatic pulpitis tissue groups. Cu, Zn‐SOD activity was determined through spectrophotometric methods and a Mann–Whitney test assessed the significance of differences between the groups. Results The enzyme activities were 144.8 ± 42.2 and 68.1 ± 25.0 U mg −1 in the healthy and irreversible symptomatic pulp tissue, respectively. The difference between the groups was statistically significant ( P < 0.001). Conclusions These results demonstrate a potential role for Cu, Zn‐SOD during dental pulp inflammation in humans.