The investigation of the ultrastructural neutrophil changes in alloxan-induced diabetes in rats: response to a chemotactic challenge

Experimental diabetes is one of the most popular conditions in which to study the relation between neutrophil leukocyte activity and periodontal destruction. The aetiology of neutrophil dysfunction in the gingival tissue associated with diabetes has yet to be clarified. Diabetes in rats decreases neutrophil chemotactic activity in proportion to the severity of this systemic disorder. The present study was carried out to evaluate the relationship between the severity of diabetes and the neutrophil response to two chemotactic agents, and to correlate the observed neutrophil defects with the degree of diabetes. In this study two chemotactic agents, casein (0.2 μl, 2 mg ml−1) or N‐formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (FMLP; 0.2 μl, 10−4 M), were placed into the gingival crevices of alloxan‐induced diabetic rats. Gingival biopsies were taken 15 min later and then at 5‐min intervals up to 45 min and investigated by electron microscopy. Adherence and migration were observed in the rats with moderate diabetes 30 min after the application of casein. There was chemotaxis after 35 min of administration of the peptide FMLP. By 40 min neutrophils with pyknotic nuclei were observed. At 45 min neutrophils with a decreased number of granules were present. As the severity of the diabetes increased, the neutrophils degenerated and were structurally distorted. In the rats which had alloxan‐induced diabetes there was abnormal periodontal damage. This damage is thought to be related to dysfunctional neutrophils. These findings many contribute to an answer to the following question: why is there an apparent variability in the susceptibilty of periodontal breakdown in diabetics? Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.