Macrophage chemotaxis in experimental tooth movement in the rat

Extracts from tissue surrounding teeth being moved contained chemotactic activity for peritoneal exudate cells (PEC). The tissue was homogenized, extracted and diafiltered using a 100,000 mol. wt cut-off filter. The filtrate contained statistically-significant chemotactic activity, whereas the retentate did not. Further fractionation of the filtrate using an isoelectric focusing column produced a filtrate fraction in the pH range between 5.0 and 6.8 which was chemotactically active. This sample was analysed for purity and mol. wt using sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide-gradient gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Gels of the active fraction stained with Coomassie blue showed two distinct bands with molecular weights of 69,000 and 60,000.