Plaque dialysate effects on human lymphocyte blastogenesis and inflammatory responses

Human dental plaque contained two groups of moieties with antagonistic biological effects on human lymphocytes. One group was large molecular weight material which stimulated lymphocytes obtained from patients with periodontal disease to undergo blastogenesis but not lymphocytes from normal donors. In contrast, low molecular weight, dialysable plaque materials, termed “plaque dialysate”, suppressed spontaneous and PHA-induced blastogenesis of normal and plaque sensitive lymphocytes. The plaque dialysate also induced acute inflammation when injected into guinea pig skin. These data suggested that plaque contains moieties that could both induce antigen-specific immune responses and non-specific biological effects which exacerbate the pathogenic aspects associated with periodontal disease.