Connective tissue organization of healthy human gingiva |
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| Authors: | C Chavrier M L Couble H Magloire and J A Grimaud |
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| Affiliation: | Laboratoire d'Histophysiologie et de Pathologie des tissus dentaires, Facultéd'Odontologie Lyon, Laboratoire de Pathologie Cellulaire du Foie, Institut Pasteur, Lyon, and Centre de Microscopie Electronique Appliquée àla Biologie et àla Géologie, Faculte des Sciences de la Doua, Villeurbanne, France |
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| Abstract: | Healthy human gingival connective tissue appears to be arranged in two patterns of organization at the ultrastructural level: Pattern I (PI) and Pattern II (PII). PI is a dense pattern of organization mainly constituted of large, dense bundles of thick collagen fibers, whereas PII is a loose pattern of organization, mainly constituted of short, thin collagen fibers mixed with a fine reticular network, especially located under or around basement membranes. Ultrastructural immunoperoxidase labelling of types I, III, and IV collagen demonstrates that gingival connective tissue is made of an intricate pattern of type I and III collagen where type I collagen fibers are preferentially organized in large dense bundles in PI, whereas a fibrous and fibrillar type III collagen network is predominant in PII. Type IV collagen, which does not exist in fibrous or fibrillar form, appears to be the main collagenous component of the basement membranes. |
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