Quantitative histopathologic assessment of developing phenytoin-induced gingival overgrowth in the cat |
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| Authors: | Thomas M. Hassell Steven Roebuck Roy C. Page Susan H. Wray |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Periodontics, School of Dentistry, and Dental Research Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C., and Departments of Pathology and Periodontics and the Center for Research in Oral Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Abstract Phenytoin (Dilantin®) induces gingival overgrowth characterized by an accumulation of connective tissue. The cell-to-matrix ratio in the mature lesion is normal, yet there must be more fibroblasts per oral cavity if there is excessive tissue mass. Using a mongrel cat model system, we studied the early, developing phenytoin-induced lesion by quantitating fibroblasts per unit of tissue in papilla biopsies collected over a 3-month period of daily drug administration. At 6 and 8 weeks, the number of fibroblasts per unit of tissue increased dramatically. By 3 months, as the lesions matured, the fibroblast-to-matrix ratio returned to normal. We suggest that the drug interacts with resident gingival fibroblasts, causes them to proliferate and thus induces a true, but transient, hypercellularity. Cell division then appears to slow or cease, and rapid production of connective tissue matrix ensues, returning the cell-to-matrix ratio to normal. |
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| Keywords: | Epilepsy fibroblasts gingival overgrowth mongrel cat model phenytoin (Dilantin®) |
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