Citrate Synthase Activity in Periodontal Tissues

¹ Department of Preventive Dentistry, Osaka University Dental School, Osaka, Japan

A technic for measuring the enzyme activity of citrate synthase in the gingiva and alveolar bone of normal guinea pigs has been described. The enzyme activities in the heart, kidney, liver, and femur cortex were also determined as comparisons. When enzyme activity was expressed on the weight of the wet tissue, heart showed a high activity, kidney and liver intermediate activity, gingiva a relatively low value, and alveolar bone and femur cortex extremely low levels. The heart possessed also the highest activity expressed on the basis of content of extracted protein. The gingiva and alveolar bone each contained approximately 1/24 and 1/33 of the mean activity/unit content of extracted protein of heart, respectively.