การศึกษานำร่อง: การแสดงออกของตัวรับเมลาโทนินชนิดที่ 1 ในเนื้อเยื่อเหงือกของผู้ป่วย โรคปริทันต์อักเสบเรื้อรัง

Abstract

Chronic periodontitis is a pathologically inflammatory condition of periodontal tissues, in association with microbial infections in the mouth. Periodontitis is a major cause of tooth loss in adults. However, human body has a mechanism that works against and eliminates toxic substances from microorganisms by antioxidants. Melatonin, a hormone has anti-oxidation and anti-inflammatory activities. The mechanism of melatonin can be initiated via melatonin receptor. No prior study has investigated the presence of melatonin receptor 1 in human gingival tissues. This study aimed to investigate the expression of melatonin receptor 1 in gingival tissues of patients with chronic periodontitis. There were 15 chronic periodontitis patients and 15 healthy subjects as a controlled group in this study. The gingival tissues from patients were used to detect the expression of melatonin receptor 1 by an immunohistochemical method. The expression of melatonin receptor 1 in gingival tissues of patients with chronic periodontal disease and control group was detected. The levels of immunostaining scores of melatonin receptor 1 were not significantly different   between two investigated groups. In summary, the present study provide new information that melatonin receptor 1 can be detected in human gingival tissues. Further investigation on the role of melatonin receptor 1 in response to chronic inflammation would be of importance.