Department of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, 1787, Senador Salgado Filho Ave, Lagoa Nova, Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, CEP: 59056-000, Brazil.
Department of Periodontology, University of Florida, 1395 Center Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA.
Clin Oral Investig. 2023 Nov;27(11):6823-6833. doi: 10.1007/s00784-023-05297-4. Epub 2023 Oct 10.
The aim of this study was to compare, in adults and elderly individuals, the immunoexpression of immature and mature dendritic cells (DCs), mast cells, and blood vessels in healthy and diseased gingival tissues.
The expressions of immunohistochemical markers, including CD1a (immature dendritic cells), CD83 (mature dendritic cells), tryptase (mast cells) and CD34 (blood vessels), were analyzed in gingival biopsies from elderly (n = 27) and adult (n = 127) patients presenting health, gingivitis and periodontitis. Positive cells for each specimen and marker were counted.
There were no differences in the immunostaining of DCs, mast cells and the amount of blood vessels among gingival biopsies with health, gingivitis and periodontitis in adult and elderly subjects (p > 0.05). Immature DCs were more frequent in tissues with gingivitis and periodontitis in elderly patients, when compared to adults (p < 0.05). Furthermore, degranulated mast cell counts were higher, whereas the number of microvessels was lower in gingivitis in the elderly, when compared to adults (p < 0.05).
Diseased periodontal sites in the elderly present an overall significant overexpression of immature DCs and degranulated mast cells, in relation to those of adults. Furthermore, gingivitis in elderly is associated with decreased microvessel growth. These immunoinflammatory differences between elderly and adults may have implications in periodontal tissue breakdown in the late adulthood. Further studies should be performed to elucidate this hypothesis.
Understading the relationship between aging and changes in immune cells during periodontal inflammation may lead to therapeutic targets for the future management of periodontal diseases.
本研究旨在比较成人和老年患者健康和病变牙龈组织中未成熟和成熟树突状细胞（DC）、肥大细胞和血管的免疫表达。
分析了来自老年（n=27）和成年（n=127）患者的牙龈活检中免疫组织化学标志物（包括 CD1a（未成熟树突状细胞）、CD83（成熟树突状细胞）、类胰蛋白酶（肥大细胞）和 CD34（血管））的表达。对每个标本和标志物的阳性细胞进行计数。
在成年和老年患者的健康、龈炎和牙周炎牙龈活检中，DC、肥大细胞和血管的免疫染色没有差异（p>0.05）。与成年患者相比，老年患者的龈炎和牙周炎组织中未成熟 DC 更为常见（p<0.05）。此外，与成年患者相比，老年患者的龈炎中脱颗粒肥大细胞计数较高，而微血管数量较低（p<0.05）。
与成年患者相比，老年患者病变牙周部位的未成熟 DC 和脱颗粒肥大细胞总体表达显著增加。此外，老年患者的龈炎与微血管生长减少有关。这些老年和成年之间的免疫炎症差异可能对成年后期牙周组织破坏有影响。应该进行进一步的研究来阐明这一假说。
了解衰老与牙周炎炎症过程中免疫细胞变化之间的关系，可能为牙周病未来的治疗提供靶点。
