Evaluation of cytotoxicity of two endodontic cements in a macrophage culture

compared to gutta-percha, the endodontic cements are used in small quantity to seal root canals, but are indispensable to achieve hermetically sealed margins, where its biocompatibility depends on the sum of responses of each cell present in the periapical region. the object of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity of two endodontic cements, one based on epoxy resin (sealer 26) and the other containing zinc oxide eugenol (endofill) by using cultured peritoneal macrophages from swiss mice to measure the induced production of nitric oxide. after solidification and pulverization, aliquots of 100ml of suspension containing 18mg/ml of the respective cements were added to 96-well tissue culture plates containing the tissue culture of macrophages at a concentration of 5.0x106 cells/ml. in the positive control group the cell culture was treated with 10mg/ml of lipopolyssaccharide from escherichia coli 026:b6 and the cell culture alone represented the negative control. after 48 hours of incubation, at 37oc, in 5% co2, the cultures were placed in an elisa automatic reader to evaluate the release of nitric oxide. the production of nitric oxide for cement sealer 26 was between 36.1 and 313.0 mmols, with a mean of 143.82±111.03mmols, while for the endofill these values were significantly less (p=0.01), varying from 50.8 to 125.7mmols, with a mean of 80.33±28.42 mmols. in the positive and negative control groups the mean release of nitric oxide was of 162.75mmols and 4.42mmols, respectively. there was no significant difference between the positive control group and cement sealer 26 (p>0.05). therefore, the cement sealer 26 caused significantly greater toxicity to the macrophages, possibly due to the components from the epoxy resin and formaldehyde release during polymerization.