Collagenolytic activity of crevicular fluid from pericoronal gingival flaps

Fluids from normal and inflamed gingival flap tissues, overlying partially erupted lower third molars, were incubated on reconstituted collagen gels and examined for collagenase activity. Collagenase activity was observed only in fluids originating from tissues with pericoronitis. However, when fluids from clinically normal tissues were treated with NaSCN, some also showed collagenase activity. Only the fluids from normal-looking tissues with a history of pericoronitis showed collagenase activity after NSCN treatment. No enzyme activity was observed in treated or untreated fluids from normal tissue from patients with no history of pericoronitis. It was concluded that the fluid collagenase activity originated from the adjacent gingival tissue because (1) the activity of the untreated fluid observed in this study seemed to parallel the acitivity of the adjacent gingival tissue, based on our observations in a previous study; (2) NaSCN affected the fluid collagenase in the same way that others found it to affect gingival tissue collagenase; and (3) the disc gel electrophoretic pattern of the breakdown products of collagen produced by the GCF enzyme was similar to that produced by gingival tissue collagenase and differed from that produced by a bacterial collagenase reported to exist in human gingival fluid.