Lysozyme activity in saliva from children with various degree of gingivitis.

The lysozyme activity was determined in paraffin stimulated whole saliva from 51 randomly selected children. The average age was 6.5 years. The children were divided into four groups according to their degree of gingival inflammation. An agardiffusion method was used with Micrococcus lysodeikticus as indicator of the lysozyme activity. The mean value of the lysozyme activity was determined to 48.4 microgram/ml. In the non-inflamed group the enzyme activity was 8.7 microgram/ml, whereas it was lower, 31.5 microgram/ml, in children with inflamed gingiva. The correlation coefficient (p less than 0.05) suggest that there is a negative relationship between saliva lysozyme and the degree of gingival inflammation. Furthermore this study indicates that lysozyme acts as one of the resistant-factors against gingival inflammation in young individuals.