Interleukin-1 beta, prostaglandin E2, and immunoglobulin G subclasses in gingival crevicular fluid in patients...

Determination of the presence of inflammatory products found in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) may be of value in evaluating both periodontal disease status and the outcome of therapy. Immunoglobulin G subclasses 1 through 4 (IgGs), interleukin 1-beta (IL-1 beta), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) have all been shown to be present in GCF. This study monitored IgGs, IL-1 beta, and PGE2 in GCF of 18 adult patients as they progressed through periodontal treatment toward maintenance therapy. Sites were selected from the most severely affected sextant as determined by probeable crevice depth (PD) at initial examination (IE). GCF was collected on four occasions: initial examination; 4 weeks after completion of initial therapy (oral hygiene counseling, and scaling and root planing); 3 months after completion of surgery; and 7 to 9 months later at a maintenance visit. All variables were reduced to binary form (positive or negative), and break points chosen to separate the approximately symmetrical bell-shaped areas (negatives) from the skewed tails (positives). Repeated measures analyses of variance were performed to detect significant changes in all variables across time. Significant improvements were observed for all the clinical variables measured: PD, attachment level, and bleeding on probing. However, significant reductions for the GCF components only occurred in the concentrations of IL-1 beta and PGE2, but were not evident until the maintenance sampling. Surprisingly, GCF:serum ratios of IgG subclasses did not change significantly over the course of the investigation. The robustness of the levels of these components may be due to inflammation associated with the healing process, or to a further plaque induced response.