Question

Mechanism of increased collagen in drug induced gingival enlagement

Answer 1

Drug-induced gingival overgrowth (DIGO) is a disfiguring side effect of anti-convulsants, calcineurin inhibitors, and calcium channel blocking agents.

A unifying hypothesis has been constructed which begins with cation flux inhibition induced by all three of these drug categories.

Decreased cation influx of folic acid active transport within gingival fibroblasts leads to decreased cellular folate uptake, which in turn leads to changes in matrix metalloproteinases metabolism and the failure to activate collagenase.