Dental Plaque Toxins are not Lymphotoxins

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma at Oklahoma City, Health Sciences Center, P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73190

A major portion of the toxic activity of plaque extracts to cells in culture is due to macromolecules which might be lymphotoxins derived from antigen or mitogen-activated lymphocytes in the gingiva. Assays of sensitivity to L929 and HeLa cells, and of the effect of neutralizing antibody, indicated that the plaque toxins did not have the properties of the lymphotoxins. The results are consistent with other findings and suggest that the toxins are microbial exotoxins.