ABSTRACT
A cyst is by definition a pathological, fluid-filled cavity and that fluid should be recognized as an integral part of the cyst. Cyst enlargement has been partly attributed to the hydrostatic pressure exerted by its luminal fluid. This fluid has been suggested to arise as a result of secretion, transudation/exudation, and osmosis/dialysis. The physical appearance of odontogenic cyst fluid is quite variable. In the absence of contamination by blood during aspiration, the color can vary from a straw-yellow color to brown, when breakdown of blood has occurred. The presence of serum proteins in odontogenic cyst fluids has now been reported by a number of the workers. The proteins of odontogenic cyst fluids have been separated by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate membranes using buffer systems optimized for serum protein separation on the assumption that cyst fluid proteins are predominantly derived from the plasma.
