Figure 1.

Western immunoblot analysis of salivary samples studied for molecular forms, degree of activation and related fragmentation of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-8. “PMN” indicates neutrophil-type collagenase (70–80 kDa) and “Mes” fibroblast-type MMP-8 collagenase (50–65 kDa) together with their pro and active forms. “Complexes” indicate multiple forms of MMP-8 (>110 kDa) and “fragments” the fragmented MMP-8 species (20–30 kDa). Lanes 1 and 2 illustrate the Crohn’s disease group, and lanes 3 and 4 the control group. All laboratory conditions (incl. time of exposure) and image analyses were standardized. Purified human activated MMP-8^## was used as positive control (lane 5). Mobilities of the molecular weight markers (low range prestained SDS-PADE Standards (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc, Richmond, CA, USA) are indicated on the left.