The effect of sequential sampling on crevicular fluid volume and enzyme activity

Abstract Gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) volume and constituents in static samples were compared to volume and constituents in subsequent GCF samples collected during a 60‐min interval. Using deep intracrevicular placement of precut filter paper strips, GCF was collected from interproximal and facial sites from patients with gingivitis (N= 14; 28 interproximal sites, 28 facial sites) and chronic adult periodontitis (N= 11; 26 interproximal sites, 18 facial sites). The strips were inserted for 30 s at 0, 4, 8, 30 and 60 min. The amount of fluid on each strip was determined and microspectrophotometric techniques were used to assess cytoplasmic and lysosomal enzyme activity. Within each group of sites, mean GCF volume showed minimal fluctuation with repeated sampling. In contrast, the static GCF sample contained the greatest amount of total enzyme activity, and differences were detected between groups. The interproximal sites and the gingivitis‐facial sites displayed a similar pattern of change in total enzyme activity during the test period. The highest total enzyme activity was observed in the first sample and decreased at 4 and 8 minutes. At 30 and 60 min, the amount of enzyme either remained at the level detected at 8 min, or displayed a mild tendency to recover towards baseline. A different pattern of total enzyme activity was observed for the periodontitis‐facial sites, where a significant decrease was first observed at 30 min. Enzyme concentration was higher in the facial sites than the interproximal sites, and enzyme concentration was generally highest in the static samples. The concentration data, however, is difficult to interpret since a number of sites demonstrated a converted GCF volume of 0 μl. Our data suggests that total enzyme activity and enzyme concentration are generally greater in the static GCF samples compared to subsequent samples. Furthermore, different categories of gingival sites differ in GCF volume and constituents with repealed sampling, and relatively uninvolved sites from patients with periodontitis demonstrate a distinct pattern of total enzyme activity. The data also indicates that after GCF sampling, the fluid volume in the crevice recovers more rapidly than constituents derived from host cells.