Journal of Dental Research, Vol 69, 1283-1286, Copyright © 1990 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
The possible role of oral epithelial cells in tissue-type plasminogen activator-related fibrinolysis in human saliva
S. Sindet-Pedersen, J. Gram and J. Jespersen
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Arhus University Hospital, Denmark.
We studied the fibrinolytic activities of the following subfractions of
unstimulated human whole saliva on plasminogen-rich fibrin plates: (1)
submandibular saliva, (2) parotid saliva, and (3) smears of buccal
epithelial cells from ten healthy males. A cell-bound plasminogen activator
could be demonstrated in the sediments of all three subfractions of whole
saliva. The incorporation of antibodies (goat IgG) against human two-chain
tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) could quench the assessed
fibrinolytic activities, whereas additional experiments suggested the
absence of urokinase-like and F XII-dependent activators of fibrinolysis.
The determinations in growth medium from buccal-epithelial cell culture of
t-PA antigen by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed the
presence of t-PA. These clinical and experimental findings suggest that
buccal-epithelial cells produce t-PA, while the activity of t-PA in parotid
and submandibular saliva is very low.
