The Effect of Mouthwash on Micronucleus Formation in KB cell

Mouthwashes are widely used without any control or limitation in every country. Although many epidemiology studies have indicated a relationship between mouthwashes and oral cancer, the mechanism by which the mouthwash plays a role in cancer development has not been established. Objectives: To determine whether the mouthwash had a genotoxic effect or not by assessing the number of micronucleus in the cell line. Methods: Two types of mouthwash formulas (A= Listerine@, B= Hrebic@ )were chosen to study in in vitro (KB cell line). KB cells were exposed to the mouthwashes A and B, respectively, at the various concentrations (1%, 5% and 10%), and time intervals (5min, 1hr and 24hr). In addition, the effect of mouthwash on the colchicine-induce micronucleus formation in the KB cells was also studied. The KB cells were exposed to the colchicine 5mg/ml) for 5min then exposed to the mouthwash at the doses of 1%, 5% and 10% for 5 min, respectively. Results: The frequencies of the micronucleated KB cells were slightly increased from the negative control when the dose increased and some were of a statistically significant difference. And the results of the effect of mouthwash on the colchicine-induce micronucleus formation exhibited that the mouthwashes A and B at the concentrations of 1%, 5% and 10%, reduced the frequencies of the micronucleated KB cells that were induced by the colchicine. The percent of inhibition (PI) were 66.10%, 63.84% and 48.58%, respectively in mouthwash A and were 70.62%, 68.36% and 89.83%, respectively in mouthwash B. Conclusions: The frequencies of micronucleus were increased significantly in both 2 mouthwash over negative control only in some concentrations and times. The mouthwashes could not stimulate the frequencies of the micronucleus formation in the KB cells that were induced by the colchicine.