Penetration of dental plaque components into gingiva: sequential topical treatments with hyaluronidase and streptococcal polysaccharide in rats.

EIGHTY-FIVE Sprague-Dawley rats were used in two experiments to determine the conditions necessary to permit transepithelial penetration by deleterious macromolecules in murine oral mucosa. In experiment one, Group I was a water and diet control; Group II mucosa was treated with hyaluronidase; Group III with streptococcal polysaccharide; and Group IV with hyaluronidase, followed by treatment with the polysaccharide. In the second experiment, the histological effects of the streptococcal polysaccharide were quantified by administering a series of concentrations, from 10 mg/ml to 100 microgram/ml. The results suggest that tissue-damaging plaque components, such as hyaluronidase and polysaccharide, act in combination to pass through the epithelial structures into the subjacent connective tissues to cause destructive changes in rat gingiva. Such changes may possibly be related to those seen in the periodontium when it is adjacent to dental plaque.