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Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory disease, the pathogenesis of which involves different innate immune system as well as adaptive immune system cells, including macrophages. Macrophages are professional phagocytes whose primary role is ingestion and destruction of microorganisms. Apart from phagocytosis, these cells are engaged in production of proinflammatory cytokines and antigen presentation to T cells, and therefore are considered to be the key cells of the innate immune response. Our study focused on distribution and density of macrophages in healthy and inflamed gingiva with the purpose of evaluating their relevance to pathogenesis of periodontal disease. The material used for this purpose were gingival biopsies taken from 96 patients assorted in 4 groups: the healthy gingiva, gingivitis, moderate periodontal disease and severe periodontal disease. The immunohistochemical staining method based on the use of monoclonal antibodies anti-CD68 was used for identification of macrophages. Our study showed that the density of macrophages is higher in gingivitis and periodontal disease compared to healthy gigiva. There were no significant differences found regarding the density of macrophages in gingivitis and periodontal disease. Grouping of macrophage populations close to partially lysed collagen fibers in periodontal disease indicates their collagenic activity. The increase in the number of macrophages in inflamed gingival tissue could be linked to bone resorption due to the fact that these cells are capable of differentiating into osteoclasts.

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a gene candidate for the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We investigated the association of the PPARγ Pro12Ala gene with the onset of T2DM for the first time in the Serbian population. The study population consisted of 197 controls and 163 T2DM patients. The 12Ala allele tended to be more frequent in the group of T2DM patients (0.11) compared to the control subjects (0.09). The results from this study indicate that the PPARγ2 12Ala allele presents a non-significant risk factor for T2DM development in the Serbian population.

Periodontitis is a chronic infectious and inflammatory disease of periodontal tissues estimated to affect 70-80 % of all adults. At the same time, periodontium, the site of periodontal pathologies, is an extraordinarily complex plexus of soft and hard tissues, the regeneration of which using even the most advanced forms of tissue engineering continues to be a challenge. Nanotechnologies, meanwhile, have provided exquisite tools for producing biomaterials and pharmaceutical formulations capable of elevating the efficacies of standard pharmacotherapies and surgical approaches to whole new levels. A bibliographic analysis provided here demonstrates a continuously increasing research output of studies on the use of nanotechnologies in the management of periodontal disease, even when they are normalized to the total output of studies on periodontitis. The great majority of biomaterials used to tackle periodontitis, including those that pioneered this interesting field, have been polymeric. In this article, a chronological review of polymeric nanotechnologies for the treatment of periodontitis is provided, focusing on the major conceptual innovations since the late 1990s, when the first nanostructures for the treatment of periodontal diseases were fabricated. In the opening sections, the etiology and pathogenesis of periodontitis and the anatomical and histological characteristics of the periodontium are being described, along with the general clinical manifestations of the disease and the standard means of its therapy. The most prospective chemistries in the design of polymers for these applications are also elaborated. It is concluded that the amount of innovation in this field is on the rise, despite the fact that most studies are focused on the refinement of already established paradigms in tissue engineering rather than on the development of revolutionary new concepts., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)