Investigating the Effect of Folinic Acid Toxicity on Oral Fibroblasts Cells

Due to the absence of a conclusive cure for a severely painful mouth ulcer, the creation of a medication to regulate this ailment is greatly advantageous. Folinic acid is a derivative of 5-formyl tetrahydrofolic acid. Unlike folic acid (the synthetic form of folate), folinic acid is a form of folate found naturally in foods. Folinic acid can be converted to other active forms of folate in the body and has the activity of the complete vitamin folic acid. Since folinic acid has wound-healing effects, it may play an important role in accelerating the healing of aphthous wounds. By determining the optimal dose, folinic acid can be suggested as a recommended treatment option for people with oral ulcers such as aphthous wounds. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of folinic acid on the growth of gingival fibroblast cells as a treatment for mouth ulcers.

During this experimental study, human gingival fibroblast cell lines were cultured in sterile conditions in a DMEM culture medium of 10% bovine serum and 1% penicillin and tetracycline antibiotics at 37 degrees. These cells were exposed to different concentrations of folinic acid drug (5, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 80, 100 μM). The MTT method was used to evaluate cell viability and determine IC50 (inhibitory concentration). In this experiment, due to the uncertainty of its range of toxicity on cells, the relative toxicity was determined in a pilot phase and with few repetitions. Each concentration was repeated four times and incubated at different times (24, 48, and 72 hours). After the incubation time, the supernatant of each well was discarded and 100 μl of MTT solution was added to each well. After four hours of incubation, the supernatant was discarded and 100 μL of DMSO was added. Then, using an ELISA reader, the optical absorbance of each well was measured at a wavelength of 540-690 nm. Finally, IC50, which indicates the drug concentration necessary to inhibit 50% of cell growth, was calculated using the growth curve, and the results were analyzed using SPSS software version 19.

In this study, the effect of folinic acid cytotoxicity on human gingival fibroblast cell line (HGF1) in a cell culture medium was investigated three times in different concentrations. The results showed that 70% of the cells were still alive in 24 hours up to a concentration of 100 μM, which can indicate the effective use of this drug for the treatment of pest damage. In 48 hours, IC50= 1.78 μM was obtained, which indicates that in studies with a time limit of 48 hours, up to a dose of 80 μM of folinic acid can be used to use the therapeutic effects of this drug. In 72 hours, IC50 was calculated as 66.7 μM.

These findings provide valuable information about the dose-response relationship and the impact of folic acid on HGF1 cells. It indicates that higher concentrations of folic acid are needed initially to achieve a significant reduction in cell growth, but with longer exposure, lower concentrations can be effective.