Assessment of Neopterin Levels in Pre- and Post-menopausal Women With Chronic Periodontitis

Neopterin is an early and valuable biomarker of cellular immunity, shown to be a sensitive assessment parameter for cell-mediated immune reactions. Hence determination of neopterin concentrations in distinctive body fluids is of diagnostic interest in a wide range of T lymphocytes and macrophages originated diseases. Increased neopterin production is also found in infections due to intracellular living bacteria and parasites. Neopterin concentration is directly proportional to the reactive oxygen species levels and is inversely related to the serum concentration of antioxidants like alpha-tocopherol. Hence it can be regarded as a marker of reactive oxygen species formed by the activated cellular immune system. Consequentially this is useful for predicting the prognosis and diagnosis of severe form of periodontal diseases. Menopause accomplishes a wide range of changes in women's body, and the oral cavity is also not exceptional. As exalted levels of ovarian hormones, detected in pregnancy and oral contraceptive usage, can lead to an increase of gingival inflammation. On the contrary, menopause shows depleted levels of ovarian sex steroids, which also causes worsening of gingival health. Post-menopause was found to be more aggressive and destructive in nature compared to pre-menopause. It has been assessed that the prevalence of oral discomfort was found to be significantly higher along with low flow rates of the saliva with the presence of periodontal disease more frequently. Studies demonstrated that non-surgical periodontal therapy reduces inflammation and improves periodontal status. Therefore it can be assumed that overall inflammatory markers also reduce after non-surgical periodontal therapy.