Distribution of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and its binding sites in labial salivary glands in Sjögren's syndrome and in normal controls.

Objective: Tissue distribution of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-containing nerves and their target cells were studied in labial salivary glands in patients with Sjögren's syndrome and in healthy controls.

Methods: Immunoperoxidase staining was used to demonstrate VIP-containing nerve fibers, and receptor autoradiography with 125I-Bolton Hunter (BH)-VIP was used to demonstrate VIP positive binding sites.

Results: VIP-containing nerves were seen around salivary acini, salivary ducts, blood vessels and deep parenchyma, but were absent from large inflammatory cell foci in patients with Sjögren's syndrome.

Collagenase, gelatinase and elastase activities in sulcular fluid of osseointegrated implants and natural teeth.

Proteinases play a key rôle in the physiological degradation and remodelling of the periodontal tissues. The rôle of these enzymes in tissue remodelling remodelling in connection with the insertion of dental endosseous implants has not been elucidated. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify the eventual presence of collagenase, gelatinase and elastase activities in periimplant sulcus fluid (PISF) of osseointegrated implants.

Teaching of patients undergoing total hip replacement surgery.

We studied the effect of patient teaching in 60 patients who underwent primary total hip replacement surgery. All the patients received an illustrated patient guide. In addition to the general patient teaching given by doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, a randomly chosen group of 27 patients received a session of intensified patient teaching.

Reduction of matrix metalloproteinase 8-neutrophil collagenase levels during long-term doxycycline treatment of reactive arthritis.

The aim of this work was to determine whether human polymorphonuclear neutrophilic interstitial collagenase (matrix metalloproteinase 8 [MMP-8]) levels are reduced during long-term doxycycline treatment in humans with reactive arthritis. Serum MMP-8 levels were reduced (mean +/- standard error of the mean, 678.9 +/- 185.

Innervation of recurrent aphthous ulcers.

Specimens from nonkeratinized oral mucosa were obtained from diseased and clinically healthy mucosa from 7 patients with minor recurrent aphthous ulcers. The innervation of the specimens was visualized using antibodies to neuron-specific intermediate cytoskeletal neurofilament fiber, the cytoplasmic protein gene product 9.5 and a 38 kDa integral membrane protein of synaptic vesicles applied in avidin-biotin-peroxidase staining.

Multiple forms of gelatinases/type IV collagenases in saliva and gingival crevicular fluid of periodontitis patients.

The aim of the present study was to characterize the eventual presence and molecular forms of gelatinase/type IV collagenase activities in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and saliva in different forms of periodontitis; patients with clinically healthy periodontium served as controls. Enzyme activities were monitored electrophoretically by zymography using gelatin and type IV collagen as substrates and analyzed visually and/or densitometrically. Both saliva and GCF collected from adult periodontitis, localized juvenile periodontitis and type II diabetes mellitus periodontitis patients contained species moving identically with gelatinase isolated from human neutrophils or MMP-9 (mean 98 kD), and species with mobility similar to gelatinase in fibroblast cell culture supernatants or MMP-2 (mean 76 kD).

Local immune inflammatory response to infected total hip and knee replacements.

We studied the tissue response for periprosthetic pseudosynovial tissue in seven patients with a purulent endoprosthetic infection and six patients with common prosthesis loosening, using specific monoclonal antibodies in avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex staining. In infected cases, proline 4-hydroxylase positive fibroblasts dominated the stroma of the vascularized periprosthetic connective tissue, whereas diffuse local infiltrations of mononuclear cells characterized the cellular histological overview. Local cellular response consisted of CD11b and MHC locus II antigen-positive immunoreactive monocytes/macrophages and of T lymphocytes, mostly of the CD4 subset.

[The nervous system in rheumatic diseases].

Underlying the pain in rheumatic diseases are interactive effects between tissues, the extracellular environment and the nervous system, complex interactions within the nervous system itself, and changes in the properties of nerve cells. These phenomena and their effects as reflected in the treatment of rheumatic diseases are summarised in this review.

Biocompatibility of polyethylene and host response to loosening of cementless total hip replacement.

A human lymphocyte culture protocol was used to identify the biocompatibility pattern of fine particulate ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Polyethylene did not cause an increase in lymphocyte DNA synthesis as assessed by the 3H-thymidine incorporation method on culture Days 1, 3, nor 5. As analyzed with monoclonal activation markers, the polyethylene dependent expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II antigen as well as interleukin-2 receptor (CD25) was virtually nonexistent.

Salivary collagenase, elastase- and trypsin-like proteases as biochemical markers of periodontal tissue destruction in adult and localized juvenile periodontitis.

The profile of salivary proteases and their cellular origin, with special reference to polymorphonuclear leukocytes and bacteria, was studied in localized juvenile periodontitis and compared with adult periodontitis and healthy controls. General proteolytic activity in saliva as well as collagenase, elastase-like and trypsin-like activity was measured. In addition, the sensitivity of salivary collagenase of patients with localized juvenile periodontitis to doxycycline inhibition was studied.

Differential effects of reactive oxygen species on native synovial fluid and purified human umbilical cord hyaluronate.

The ability of reactive oxygen species produced by triggered neutrophilic leukocytes, hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase (HX/XAO), hydrogen peroxide, and hypochlorous acid/myeloperoxidase (HOCl/MPO) systems to degrade hyaluronate (HA) in human synovial fluid (SF) and purified umbilical cord HA was compared by measuring the molecular weight distribution of HA using high-performance liquid chromatography with a size-exclusion column. The exposure of noninflammatory SF to phorbol myristic acetate (PMA)-activated neutrophils or to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) caused depolymerization of SF HA to the degree corresponding to that found in rheumatoid SFs. When HX/XAO was used as radical generator, the molecular weight of SF HA decreased from 3.

Rapid proliferation of calcitonin gene-related peptide-immunoreactive nerves during healing of rat tibial fracture suggests neural involvement in bone growth and remodelling.

The nervous system may be actively involved in bone repair and in remodelling of callous tissue in bone fractures, as well as in the regulation of nociceptive impulses from the site of the trauma. The aim of this study was to assess the distribution and nature of the periosteal innervation of normal control bone and during bone healing subsequent to fracture of rat tibiae at seven, 14 and 21 days after experimental fracture using immunocytochemistry and image analysis quantification of the neuronal marker protein gene product 9.5 and sensory neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide.

Role of mesenchymal collagenase in the loosening of total hip prosthesis.

Fibroblast-type interstitial collagenase (E.C. 3.

Long-lasting allergic patch test reaction caused by gold.

Allergic contact dermatitis caused by gold is rare, and only isolated cases have been reported. Patch testing with gold may cause a long-lasting reaction. The purpose of this study is to describe a well-studied case of gold allergy caused by dental gold crowns.

Doxycycline in the protection of serum alpha-1-antitrypsin from human neutrophil collagenase and gelatinase.

The concentration of doxycycline required to inhibit 50% (50% inhibitory concentration for serpinase activity) of alpha-1-antitrypsin degradation by purified neutrophil collagenase was found to be approximately 20 microM, a value similar to the 50% inhibitory concentration of doxycycline required to inhibit collagen degradation by neutrophil collagenase. Doxycycline also efficiently inhibited phorbol myristate acetate-triggered neutrophil-mediated degradation of alpha-1-antitrypsin. This suggests that doxycycline can protect alpha-1-antitrypsin from collagenase and gelatinase in the presence of other proteases and biologically active molecules that are released by triggered neutrophils.

Are total hip prostheses implanted with the use of methylmethacrylate biocompatible?

Objectives: The biocompatibility of total hip replacement prostheses and methylmethacrylate cement which is used for fixation of the prosthetic components has been subject to debate for three decades.

Methods: We have studied the host response to total hip replacement prostheses in a number of clinical and experimental investigations.

Results: Methylmethacrylate cement is immunologically relatively inert while it causes, in in vitro experiments and in vivo, a foreign body type of reaction.

Collagenase and stromelysin in recurrent aphthous ulcers (RAU).

Six patients with recurrent aphthous ulcers were studied for the presence of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) 1, 3, and 8 in the lesions and in the clinically unaffected control mucosa obtained from the opposite side. MMP-type specific antisera were applied in the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex staining method. Neutrophil-type collagenase (MMP-8) was found intracellularly in the connective tissue under the necrotized epithelium, and also laterally to the ulcer in association with the basement membrane.

Tetracycline inhibition and the cellular source of collagenase in gingival crevicular fluid in different periodontal diseases. A review article.

Tetracyclines have recently been shown to inhibit the activity of some but not all mammalian matrix metalloproteinases believed to mediate periodontal destruction. However, the specificity of this effect, which could have significant therapeutic implications for different periodontal diseases, has not been examined in detail. Doxycycline and 4-de-dimethylaminotetracycline (CMT-1) have been tested in vitro for their ability to inhibit human neutrophil and fibroblast interstitial collagenases and collagenase in human gingival crevicular fluid (GCF).

Doxycycline protects serum alpha-1-antitrypsin from human neutrophil collagenase.

Interstitial collagenases, members of the matrix metalloproteinase family, are key initiators of collagen destruction during various disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. Recently interstitial collagenases were found to efficiently degrade an additional non-collagenous substrate, the serum alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT also called alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor or serpin). Serpins are major endogenous inhibitors of serine proteinases, particularly neutrophil elastase.

Hyaluronate in total hip replacement.

We studied the composition of the fluid in joint cavity of the hip joint in primary osteoarthritis (OA) from samples obtained at primary total hip replacement (THR) operations (N = 21) and in the THR pseudojoint, where the samples were obtained in revision operations for the common type of prosthesis loosening (N = 17). Protein concentrations differed little in both groups (31.8 +/- 1.

Foot and ankle fusions in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

We reviewed 15 patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease who were treated with foot or ankle fusions. Altogether, 26 feet were treated with fusions and the average follow-up time was 14 years. In half of the patients the principal symptom leading to fusion operation was instability of the ankle.