In vitro comparison of cytotoxic effect of colchicine and calcium hydroxide on human gingival fibroblast cells

Biocompatibility of dressing materials is one of the most important properties to be studied. Calcium hydroxide is one of the most widely used dressing materials. The aim of this study was to compare the cytotoxic effects of colchicine with those of calcium hydroxide.

In this experimental in vitro study, different concentrations (10, 5, 2.5 mg/mL) of calcium hydroxide and colchicine were prepared and added to C165 human gingival fibroblast cells after they were incubated in the culture medium. After 24 and 72 hours and 7 days of incubation, tetrazolium salt was added to the cells, and the amount of formazan was determined by spectrophotometry using an ELISA reader. To assess the cytotoxicity of these two materials and after drug treatment, 0.4% trypan blue dye was used to stain the cells; viable cells were counted under a light microscope. Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests and t-test.

The control group, without adding any material, had the highest optical density. Optical density of different concentrations (10, 5, 2.5 mg/mL) of calcium hydroxide at all the time intervals was higher than that of colchicine (p value < 0.05). In addition, trypan blue dye showed that the mean of fibroblast cells destroyed by colchicines was significantly higher than that by calcium hydroxide (p value < 0.001).

Based on the results of this study, the cytotoxic effects of both calcium hydroxide and colchicine were higher than the control group and cytotoxicity of colchicine was higher than that of calcium hydroxide. Therefore, it seems that calcium hydroxide is still the best choice for canal dressing between treatment sessions.