Figure 3.

Immunofluorescence against MMP-9 (green) of the region of the gingiva adherent to the machined (a,c) or laser-treated (b,d) surfaces. The white dotted line indicates the basal lamina area that is regular in (b) and disrupted in (a). Nuclei are counterstained with DAPI. Scale bar: 10 µm. Images are representative of 15 different experiments (e) Percentage of ICAM-1 immunostaining positive area in the epithelial layers and the subepithelial connective tissue. Values represent the % of positive area, calculated as the mean of five different determinations in randomly chosen sections for each specimen. Values are expressed as mean ± SD * indicates values statistically different (p < 0.001) between the region of the gingiva adherent to the laser-treated- or to machined surfaces, as indicated.