A longitudinal study of various crevicular fluid components as markers of periodontal disease activity.

In order to examine the relationship of possible crevicular biochemical parameters to attachment loss (ALOSS), 330 sites from 8 untreated adult patients were monitored longitudinally at 3-month intervals, for up to 1 year. Attachment levels were measured with a force-sensing probe and an acrylic stent in duplicates at each study point. Crevicular samples were collected and used for the determination of the following 11 markers: number of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), osteocalcin (OC), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), collagenase (COL), beta-glucuronidase (BG), antigenic and functional elastase (AEL and FEL), alpha-1 antitrypsin (a1AT), alpha-2 macroglobulin (a2M) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). 10 sites with ALOSS of > or = 1.5 mm per 3 months (active sites) and 43 sites with negligible changes (inactive sites) were identified. Total amounts of ALP, BG and COL were found to be significantly higher in active as compared to inactive sites, prior to significant ALOSS, without any significant differences in crevicular fluid volume and clinical indices. When biochemical parameters were expressed as ratios to the number of PMNs, PGE2/ PMNs was significantly elevated in active sites. The capacity of such individual parameters to distinguish between active and inactive sites was limited. However, linear discriminant analysis using total amounts of PGE2, COL, ALP, a2M, OC and AEL showed more significant diagnostic values (sensitivity: 80%, specificity: 91%). These findings suggest that the combination of several biochemical parameters in crevicular fluid could give more information to predict future clinical ALOSS.