Acute Vitamin C Deficiency and the Periodontal Tissues

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The effect of acute vit. C deficiency upon the response of the periodontal tissues to artificially induced inflammation was studied in a controlled expt. using 25 guinea pigs. Inflammation was induced by an application of a 10% soln. of AgNO3 in the gingival sulcus for 30 sec. in vit. C-deficient and control animals. Acute vit. C deficiency altered the response of the periodontal tissues so that the destructive effect of inflammation was accen- tuated. Whereas a well-formed barrier of collagen fibrils, fibrin, and inflammatory cells separated the artificially induced area of injury from the underlying bone in the control animals, no such barrier occurred in the vit. C-deficient animals. Conditions existing in the periodontal area in acute vit. C deficiency which contribute to a subsequent exaggerated destructive effect of induced inflammation include: a tendency toward collagen degeneration and failure to form new collagen, osteoporosis of alveolar bone, and inability to produce well-formed bone matrix. Factors which follow the introduction of induced inflammation and contribute to the exaggerated destruction of the periodontal tissues in acute vit. C deficiency include: inability to form a peripheral delimiting connective tissue barrier, reduction in inflammatory cells, diminished vascular response, and inhibition of fibroblast formation and differentiation to form osteoblasts.

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit: