Perfil microbiológico, celular e de imunoglobulina da saliva de adultos com Periodontite Crônica

Abstract

Because periodontitis is an infectious and inflammatory oral disease, the immune response may cause the leukocyte population in saliva of individuals with this condition to be different from that of periodontally healthy individuals. To date, flow cytometric immunophenotyping has not been used to investigate immune patterns in saliva samples from individuals with inflammatory processes in the oral cavity. The objective of this study was to use flow cytometry technique to evaluate the frequency of T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, natural killer cells and the total leukocyte population in the saliva of individuals with or without chronic periodontitis. In parallel, total IgA, IgG and IgM titers in saliva were determined by Dot-ELISA besides the detection of seven periodontal pathogens, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Prevotella intermedia, Eikenella corrodens, Campylobacter rectus and Prevotella nigrecens, by PCR. Cell immunophenotyping revealed that patients with chronic periodontitis had a higher frequency of total leukocytes - p=0.0007 (50.43% ± 5.1) and B lymphocytes - p=0.0059 (50.93% ± 6.1) than individuals without oral diseases (22.69% ± 0.19 and 13.9% ± 2.6, respectively). A non-significant increase in IgG titers was also observed in subjects with chronic periodontitis and a higher frequency of periodontal pathogens. These results show that flow cytometry could be an effective tool for determining leukocyte profiles in saliva samples from patients with chronic periodontitis and from periodontally healthy subjects.