Quantitative Parameters of Interdental Gingiva in Chronic Periodontitis Patients with IFN-γ Gene Polymorphism

Chronic periodontitis (CP), an infectious disease resulting in inflammation within the periodontal tissue, is the main cause of adult tooth loss. CP is a multi-factorial disorder and the interaction between multiple genetic and environmental factors results in the manifestation of this disease. Recent researches in periodontitis has focused on cytokine gene polymorphisms that play important role in periodontal inflammation, but few studies investigated histological change that occur during CP in the supporting tissue of teeth. The aims of this study were to investigate the association of IFN-γ +874 A/T polymorphisms and quantitative parameters of interdental gingiva in CP patients. The study samples were interdental gingiva biopsies from 60 individuals including 38 patients and 22 healthy subjects. After determination of IFN-γ +874 A/T gene polymorphism by amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR), patients were divided in three subgroups: 10 AA, 18 AT and 10 TT. After slides preparation, quantitative parameters were estimated by Cavalieri's point-counting method. Statistical analyses were performed using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis test to compare differences between groups. The volume density (Vv) of epithelium, connective tissue and its components were significantly different between the control and CP groups (P<0.05). Statistically significant differences in the Vv of collagenous and non-collagenous matrix of interdental gingiva between AA, AT and TT groups were found (P<0.05). Result of present study shows that IFN-γ +874 A/T is strongly associated with some quantitative parameters of connective tissue constituents of interdental papilla in CP patients.