Potential Storage Media for Avulsed Teeth

Objectives: The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of addition of fetal bovine serum (FBS) to Hank’s Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS - standard sterile medium that contains the essential nutrients for cells) and Dulbecco Modified Eagles Medium (DMEM - standard cell culture media base), on the buffer capacity, osmolality and capability of the media in maintaining viability of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (HPDLFs) as potential storage media for avulsed teeth.
Methods: FBS (10% v/v) was added to HBSS and DMEM. A Vapor Pressure Osmometer was used to measure osmolality. To measure the buffer capacity of each sample, 1 mL of 25 mM hydrochloric acid was added to 5 mL of each storage medium (100µL at a time), while the pH value was being recorded. Primary HPDLFs were seeded on 96-well cell culture plates and exposed to HBSS, HBSS-FBS, DMEM, DMEM-FBS, and water (negative control) for 2, 4, 6, 10, 24 and 48 hours at room temperature. After each exposure time, cell viability was measured using a highly sensitive methyl-thiazolyltetrazolium (MTT) assay. The data was statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey’s range test (significance level of α=0.05 was used for this study).
Results: FBS improved the buffer capacity of HBSS but didn’t have any significant effect on DMEM. Osmolality of the samples didn’t change significantly through addition of FBS. Up to the first 10 hours, all tested media showed significantly better preservation of the viability of HPDLFs compared to the negative control. Addition of FBS, slightly improved the performance of HBSS while it didn’t result in any improvement in DMEM performance.
Conclusions: Addition of FBS to HBSS can improve both buffer capacity and capability in maintaining viability of HPDLFs. HBSS-FBS can be considered as a potential storage medium for avulsed teeth.