Biopure MTAD Induces DNA Damage but Not Cellular Death: An In Vitro Study

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the capacity of BioPure MTAD to induce genetic damage in vitro. Genotoxicity was assessed by the single cell gel (comet) assay. METHODS: Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells or murine fibroblasts cells were exposed to increasing final concentrations ranging from 0.1 a 10%. All treatments were performed for 1 hour at 37°C. The negative control group was treated with vehicle control (phosphate buffer solution - PBS) for 1 hour at 37°C and the positive control group was treated with methylmetanesulfonate (at 1 μM) for 1 hour at 37°C. RESULTS: Present results showed that the BioPure MTAD was able to promote DNA breakage in CHO cells only at the highest concentration tested as well as to induce significant increase in tail moment at all tested concentrations in murine fibroblasts. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, our results indicate that BioPure MTAD is a genotoxic agent as depicted by the single cell gel (comet) assay. (Eur J Dent 2009;3:285–289)