Study on the expression of IL-10 mRNA and the protein in gingival tissues of patients with chronic periodontitis

PURPOSE:To investigate the cell type which express IL-10 mRNA and the protein in gingival tissues of patients with chronic periodontitis. METHODS:12 patients with chronic periodontitis who were undergoing flap operation were randomly chosen as periodontitis group;10 patients undergoing gingivectomy were chosen as gingivitis group;6 patients undergoing extraction of impacted teeth were chosen as control group. Assays of in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry were used to observe the expression of IL-10 mRNA and the protein in gingival tissues of each group respectively . Wilcoxon test was used to compare the expression of IL-10 of each group at two levels; differences between the two groups were analyzed by one-way ANOVA test. RESULTS: IL-10 mRNA and the protein were all expressed in gingival tissues of periodontium,they were found in lymphocytes, fibroblasts and macrophages. There were no significant differences between two levels of IL-10 expression of periodontitis group and control group(P0.05)(gingivitis group,P0.05). The IL-10 expression of periodontitis group was significantly higher than gingivitis group and control group (P0.01); The IL-10 mRNA expression of periodontitis group was significantly higher than control group(P0.01),but there was no significant difference between the IL-10 mRNA expression of periodontitis group and gingivitis group (P 0.05). CONCLUSION: There is a local secretion mechanism of IL-10 in the periodontal tissues.