title: Gingival fibroblasts "in vitro" and Down's Syndrome.
abstract: Gingival fibroblast cultures from four patients with Down's Syndrome (DS) and periodontal disease were compared with four in vitro age-matched fibroblast cultures of handicapped subjects (ND) also affected by periodontitis. The extra copy of cromosome 21 could alter growth regulation and biochemical mechanisms, so we examined quantitatively some DS phenotypical aspects to detect possible differences from those of controls. The growth properties of gingival fibroblast cultures from DS patients were more elevated than their ND age-matched controls. There were no differences in plasma membrane polarization and in neutral endopeptidase activity. The succinate-cytochrome C reductase activity decreases in DS fibroblasts compared with ND. Our results outline the difficulties to inusing fibroblast cultures as an in vitro system to study premature ageing Down's Syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Institut of Histology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Solmi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rossetti
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Talassi
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Tomasini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fato
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Estornell
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lucarini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lenaz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Simonelli
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brunelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biagini