Neutrophil chemotaxis and periodontal health relationships of young adult people in Thailand

Abstract

Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) from 26 young patients with periodontitis exhibited about 10 per cent less chemotaxis compared to healthy-matched control subjects. This modest but significant reduction of PMN chemotaxis occurred when the attractants were derived from either autologous or heterologous sera. The lower chemotaxis function was attributable to the nature of the PMN in periodontitis and not to the capacity of the patients' serum to generate chemo-attractants. Random migration of PMN was the same in both patients and controls. Kinetic studies with endotoxin-activated human sera showed no difference between the PMN of two periodontitis patients and their controls. No significant correlations were found between chemotaxis and the clinical periodontal indices; however, PMN chemotactic values were lower in localized periodontitis than in the generalized form of the disease. © 1984.