Presence of endogenous chemotactic factors for periodontal ligament cells in bovine cementum and bone.

When bovine cementum and bone were subjected to sequential dissociative extraction first with 4 M guanidine HCl ('G' extract) and then with 4 M guanidine HCl/0.5 M EDTA ('E' extract), high chemotactic activities for periodontal ligament cells were detected in the 'G' extracts using modified Boyden chambers. The chemotactic activities in both tissue extracts were destroyed by trypsin and heat. However, the activities in bone extracts were more heat-stable than those in cementum. When both tissue extracts were separated into bound and unbound fractions by DEAE-Sephacel ion-exchange chromatography, the chemotactic activities in cementum were detected in the unbound fractions, and those in bone in the bound fractions, which were eluted by 1 M NaCl. These results suggest that cementum and bone contain different chemotactic protein factors for periodontal ligament cells.