Ultrastructural cellular basis of periodontal tissue in young beige (Chediak-Higashi syndrome) mice

The beige mouse is an animal with the homologue of Chediak-Higashi syndrome, which is an autosomal recessive trait and is characterized by the susceptibility to infection. The periodontal tissues from ten male 4-week-old beige (bg/bg) and five male non-beige (bg/+) mice were investigated ultrastructurally to elucidate the condition of the junctional epithelium (JE) of the gingivae of young beige mice. In both types of mice, PMNs were present in the intercellular spaces of the coronal site JE, but in the apical site. Vacuoles were frequently found in the cytoplasm of the JE cells in the coronal site, but not in the apical site. Lipid-like droplets were found in JE cells in both types of mice but giant granules were seen in JE cells in beige mice. It is suggested that the presence of giant granules in JE cells are characteristic of beige mice.