title: Indirect immunofluorescence technique to study expression of toll-like receptor 4 in chronic periodontitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to analyze the expression level and localization of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 in gingival samples of healthy and chronic periodontitis subjects by indirect immunofluorescence technique (IFT).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, gingival tissue samples were obtained from 25 healthy and 25 periodontitis individuals. The tissues were processed and the initial characterization was done by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The expression and localization of the TLR4 receptor were determined in the epithelial and connective layer cells of the gingival tissue using the indirect IFT. Immunofluorescence images were acquired and quantitative expression of TLRs was analyzed by calculating the percentage of cells showing positive results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the healthy control group exhibited significantly lower values of TLR4 expression in comparison with the periodontitis patients. We also found that in patients with periodontitis the concentration of TLR4 was higher in the epithelium as compared to their expression in connective tissue cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggested a definite involvement of TLR4 in initiating and progression of an inflammatory response in periodontitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Maratha Mandal's N.G.H. Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Belgaum, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Romaldin S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: D'souza
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Maratha Mandal's N.G.H. Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Belgaum, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Kishore G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Bhat
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sailaja
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Maratha Mandal's N.G.H. Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Belgaum, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Vinayak
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Joshi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D055113:Chronic Periodontitis / Q000378:metabolism*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D005881:Gingiva / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D051197:Toll-Like Receptor 4