Immunolocalization of HLA-DR and metallothionein on amalgam tattoos

Abstract

Despite studies concerning toxic reactions related to amalgam components in the literature, few studies have been devoted to evaluate local noxious effects of amalgam tattoos (AT) on biological tissues. In addition, little is known about activation of inflammatory cells by mucosa-implanted amalgam debris. Tissue reaction to AT depends on the particle size. Human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR) is an activation marker of inflammatory cells associated with antigen presentation. Metallothioneins (MT) are proteins involved with metal detoxication, including mercury and silver. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the immunolocalization of HLA-DR and MT in AT with large or powdered particles. Paraffin-embedded AT tissue blocks were sectioned and subjected to immunohistochemistry for HLA-DR and MT localization. The results demonstrated a dense mononuclear inflammatory infiltrate associated with large and powdered debris and positivity for HLA-DR and MT in inflammatory cells. While blood vessel walls and connective fibers impregnated with powdered particles were negative for HLA-DR, they were positive for MT. In addition, wherever epithelial basement membrane impregnation by powdered amalgam particles was observed, a strong positivity for MT was detected. These findings demonstrate that residual elements of AT still have noxious local effects over tissues.

Metallothionein in the radicular, dentigerous, orthokeratinized odontogenic cysts and in keratocystic odontogenic tumor

“…Four isoforms can be identified: MT‐I and MT‐II isoforms are similar and can be observed in many tissues, such as the oral epithelium; MT‐III is found mainly in the central nervous system; and MT‐IV is expressed in differentiated cells of stratified squamous epithelium (10, 11). In the oral cavity, the simultaneous immunoexpression of MT‐I and MT‐II (MTI+II), evaluated by the E9 antibody, was performed on oral malignant (12, 13) and premalignant lesions (14), periodontitis (15), and amalgam tattoos (16). Considering the differences between the odontogenic cysts and KOT concerning their histopathological features, clinical behavior, proliferative activity, genetic profile (i.e.…”

Clinical and Forensic Aspects of the Different Subtypes of Argyria

“…In general, soft electrophiles prefer to react with soft nucleophiles (low charge-to-radius ratio in both), whereas strong electrophiles react more readily with strong nucleophiles (high charge-to-radius ratio in both), such as the oxygen in nucleic acids. Metal ions as silver and mercury are soft electrophiles that react covalently with soft nucleophiles, particularly thiol groups, such as cysteine-abundant collagen fibers and proteoglycans in the extracellular matrix [ 3 , 29 ], and metallothioneins intracellularly, whose synthesis is induced after cellular silver intake [ 24 , 30 , 77 , 124 ].…”

Tatuaje por amalgama: un peculiar caso clínico

“…El polvo de amalgama es degradado intracelularmente por los macrófagos y las células gigantes con liberación continua de mercurio (16,17), los residuos de plata se diseminan difusamente sobre los tejidos, los fragmentos más grandes son rodeados inicialmente por los macrófagos y luego Fang L, Díaz Caballero A, Benedetti Padrón I, Herrera Herrera A. Tatuaje por amalgama; un peculiar caso clínico por una cápsula fibrosa donde son descompuestos lentamente. El cobre y el zinc desaparecen rápidamen-te de la lesión, el mercurio y el estaño lo hace de forma más lenta mientras que la plata se mantiene (18)(19)(20).…”