Determination of Oxygen Consumption in Normal and Inflamed Human Gingiva Using the Warburg Manometric Technic

Abstract

A series of expts. was conducted to determine the applicability of the Warburg manometric technic for the detn. of O2 consumption in human gingiva and whether the clinical and microscopic changes in various phases of gin-gival inflammation were accompanied by correlated alterations in O2 consumption. The findings indicate that the O2 consumption of human gingiva is measurable by this technic. In 86 specimens from 46 patients in whom the microscopic gingival changes varied from normal to marked chronic inflammation and proliferation, the QO2 varied from 0.2 to 4.4. There is an apparent relationship between 02 consumption and microscopic pathological changes.