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Twelve patients, aged 35 to 60, having adult Periodontitis were treated with scaling and root planing performed with ultrasonic and hand sealers. Biopsies were taken, gingival crevicular fluid and clinical parameters were analyzed at different times, and the healing process was monitored. Findings showed a clear correlation between the amount of crevicular fluid and the histological inflammatory pattern, whereas no relationship between crevicular fluid and gingival pocket depth was apparent. In this study, no differences were found in the histological features of the repair process triggered by either type of sealer.

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In order to evaluate the structural potentialities of the placenta, we analyzed placentas in the following conditions: normal full term gestation, hypertensive status, twin pregnancy and abortion at 8–12 weeks of gestation, comparing cell structures, surface organization and tissue reaction. We quantitatively evaluated (1) the arborization of the placental villous tree, and (2) the microvillous density per unit of surface area, paralleling these data with ultrastructural and immunohistochemical features. In early gestation (8–12 weeks of pregnancy) the limited degree of branching of placental villi parallels a reduced number of clefts per unit of surface area (0.7/1,000 µm²), if compared with controls (2.7/1,000 µm²). In the full term twin placenta, the number of furrows is 2.26/1,000 µm²: this value reflects a low arborization potentiality, testifying to a low placental maturity. On the contrary, a high branching of the placental villous tree is present at term in hypertension. In this gestational condition, the number of sulci of 3.1/ 1,000 µm² reveals a compensatory attitude of the placenta, aiming to sustain the impaired fetal-maternal metabolic interchange. In all these cases, syncytiotrophoblastic microvilli are reduced in number in comparison with the normal placenta, and this is likely to be an expression of a low trophoblastic maturation degree. The placenta is a barrier with a highly specialized function that conditions fetal outgrowth, and microenvironmental modifications are promptly faced by this structure through morphofunctional modulations.

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