Comparative analysis of biopsy specimens from gingiva and alveolar mucosa.

A total of 834 consecutive biopsy specimens from the gingiva and 448 from the alveolar mucosa were examined to see if differences in structure and function are reflected in categories and frequency of diagnoses. In both regions, inflammatory/reactive hyperplasia accounted for about 85% of the lesions and neoplasia for most of the remainder. Pyogenic granuloma was the most common lesion in the gingiva (23.6%) and fibrous hyperplasia in the alveolar mucosa (23.2%). The ratio of benign to malignant neoplasms was greater in the gingiva (10:1) than in the alveolar mucosa (almost 1:1). Benign tumors of the gingiva and malignant tumors of the alveolar mucosa occurred more often in males than one would expect from their proportion in the survey (keeping in mind that the numbers in alveolar mucosa were small). Lesions in these two regions were similar, but differed greatly in their frequency and in sex and age distribution.

Epithelial dimensions and capillary supply in the oral mucosa of the rat.

Subdividing the cheek, palate and ventral tongue into seven anatomically identifiable regions enabled us to assess relationships that were previously obscured by the great heterogeneity of rat oral epithelium. Capillaries were visualized by an alkaline phosphatase azo dye method in oral mucosa of four 3-month old male rats. Basal layer length per unit surface length showed a statistically significant relationship with the thickness of the epithelial cell layer in all seven regions. Linear regression of mean regional length of basal layer on mean thickness of the cellular layer in the seven regions was statistically highly significant. This was true also for mean capillary length. Thickness of the cellular layer, length of the basal layer and capillary length were similar in a palatal ruga and a thick region of cheek, suggesting that epithelial thickness rather than the type of mucosa influences the magnitude of these values. Proportional reductions in all three variables were observed in a second region of cheek and a region of ventral tongue, supporting this suggestion.

Correlation of changes in capillary supply and epithelial in the hyperplastic buccal mucosa of zinc-deficient rats.

Lengths of capillaries and epithelial dimensions were measured on tracings of sections of buccal mucosa stained for the alkaline phosphatase from rats on a zinc-deficient diet. The diet-deficient animals showed the following increases over controls; length of capillaries X 2.67; thickness of cell layer, X1.47; thickness of keratin layer. X2.82; basal layer length: surface length ratio, X1.41. Lengthening of the basal layer and the capillaries showed high positive correlations with thickening of the basal layer cell layer. Lengthening of the capillaries exceeded the lengthening of the basal layer cell layer amd the thickening of the epithelium but fell short of the increased anabolic performance of the epithelium as quantitated in previous investigations.