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Figure 3. Elastin peptides induced collagenolysis in detached gingival-fibroblast-populated collagen lattices following 4 days of culture. (A) Collagen degradation was determined similarly as for FCLs in Fig. 2. The numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 refer to control, FCL cultured in the presence of 100 µg/mL kE, FCL cultured in the presence of plasminogen (30 µg/mL), FCL cultured in the presence of both kE and plasminogen, respectively. Variations are representative of separate experiments performed in triplicate with 4 different cell strains. Bars indicate standard deviations. Significantly different from control: O, p < 0.05; OOO, p < 0.001. (B) Lattice morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy. By day 4, gingival fibroblasts—whatever the conditions, i.e., in the presence or absence of plasminogen (30 µg/mL), or the presence or absence of elastin peptides (100 µg/mL)—possessed a typical elongated morphology (dark star) exhibiting a parallel orientation to the surfaces of lattices (not shown). The presence of pericellular areas of lysed matrix (V) were observed essentially in lattices containing both elastin and plasminogen, suggesting localized collagenolysis (G).
