Tolerance of Human Fibroblasts to Benfo-Oxythiamine In Vitro

Objectives: To explore the potential application of B-OT in the aspiration tract. Materials and Methods: We conceived and optimized an in vitro model simulating the mouth-washing process to assess tolerance to B-OT on primary human gingival fibroblasts. Cells derived from 4 unrelated donors were flushed with medium containing drugs of various concentration for one minute twice daily for 3 days. Results: No effect was seen on the cells up to 1000 µM B-OT. In addition, we treated the cells with B-OT permanently in medium, corresponding to a systemic treatment. No effect was seen by 10 µM B-OT and only a slight reduction (approximately 10%) was seen by 100 µM B-OT. Conclusions: Our results suggest good tolerance of oral cells for B-OT, favoring the further development of this antiviral reagent as a mouth-washing solution and nasal spray.