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Updated: Sep 29, 2026
Isolation, Processing and Analysis of Murine Gingival Cells
Published on: July 2, 2013
Effect of home bleaching and smoking on marginal gingival epithelium proliferation: a histologic study in women
Luiz Cesar da Costa Filho1, Carolina Covolo da Costa, Marina Lara Sória
1Professor of Periodontology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil. Periodontia@rocketmail.com
Background:
Animal studies have suggested that home bleaching agents can cause morphological alterations and changes in the proliferative rate of oral epithelium.
Methods:
A bleaching agent containing 10% carbamide peroxide with carbopol was used in 11 women (five smokers and six non-smokers) during a 5-week period. Two biopsies were performed, one of them 15 days before the beginning of the home bleaching treatment and the other immediately after the 5-week bleaching treatment. Two analyses were performed in the histological sections obtained from the biopsies: epithelium morphometry and assessment of the epithelium's proliferative activity by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunohistochemistry.
Results:
The home bleaching agent increases epithelium thickness and the PCNA index in both smoker and non-smoker patients.
Conclusion:
Carbamide peroxide (10%) caused an augmentation in the proliferative activity within the basal and parabasal layers of the gingival epithelium, resulting in a change in this tissue's morphometry.
