TWO COLORIMETRIC ASSAYS VERIFY THAT CALCIUM SULFATE PROMOTES PROLIFERATING ACTIVITY OF HUMAN GINGIVAL FIBROBLASTS

Statement of problem. The role of calcium sulfate in stimulating the growth of gingival soft tissue has been reported in few studies. Such a unique property of calcium sulfate could serve as a trouble-solving broker in compensating for the lack of soft tissues in various oral surgeries. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare the proliferating activities of human gingival fibroblasts seeded on various bone graft barrier materials of calcium sulfate, collagen, and polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE). Material and methods. Two calcium sulfates ($CAPSET^{(R)}$. and $CalForma^{(R)}$, Lifecore Biomedical Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota, USA), a resorbable natural collagen ($Bio-Gide^{(R)}$, Geistlich Pharma Ag., Wolhusen, Switzerland), and a non-resorbable PTFE ($TefGen-FD^{(R)}$, Lifecore Biomedical Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota, USA) served as the human gingival fibroblasts' substrates and comprised the four experimental groups, whereas the untreated floors of culture plastics were used in the control group, in this study. Cells were trypsinized, seeded, and incubated for 48 h. The proliferating activities of fibroblasts were determined by XTT and SRB assay and absorbance (optical density, OD) was measured. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the differences in the mean OD values between the groups of CAPSET, CalForma, Bio-Gide, TefGen, and the control (p<0.05). Results. From the XTT assay, the mean OD value of the control group, the highest, was significantly greater than that of any of the four experimental groups followed by CalForma, CAPSET, TefGen, and Bio-Gide. Further, the mean OD value of CalForma, was significantly greater compared to that of Bio-Gide. From the SRB assay, Calforma showed the highest mean OD value, which was significantly greater than that of any other groups, followed by the control, CAPSET, Bio-Gide, and TefGen. The mean OD values of both the control and CAPSET were significantly greater compared to that of TefGen (p<0.05). Conclusion. Assessment of the viability and proliferation of cultured fibroblasts seeded and incubated for 48 h on various barrier-material substrates using XTT and SRB assay showed that calcium sulfate $CalForma^{(R)}$ promotes the proliferating activity of human gingival fibroblasts.