[Immunofluorescence studies in the pathogeny of parodontal disease]

One of the current question in this field is that of the possibility for parodontal disease to be an autoimmune disease. There is no clear answer as yet in the specialized literature, and no coherent and complete concepts. Starting from the existing data the authors have carried out immunological studies in patients with parodontal disease, considering the chronic, recidivating aspects of this disturbance, even after a complex therapy, and removal of pathological structures. They attempted to investigate the autoimmune components of the disease, and have employed immunofluorescent techniques of the indirect type for the study of gingival fragments without lesions obtained from patients with parodontopathies. The data obtained have demonstrated, besides the presence at the surface of the epithelium of stable immune complexes, that could be the effect of bacterial antigenic material, and cell fluorescence in the epithelium and the chorion, a fluorescence that was superposed on the respective tissue architecture. These data suggest implication of autoimmune mechanism in parodontal disease, and can explain, in the frame of the clinical aspects of chronic marginal parodontopathies, the auto-aggressive character, and the self-maintenance of these processes in certain conditions, even when an adequate therapy has been applied.