Comparative Evaluation of Cytotoxicity of Two Novel Herbal Intracanal Medicaments on Human Periodontal Fibroblasts—An In Vitro Study

Introduction: Intracanal medicaments used during root canal treatment comes in direct contact with cells of pulp and periapical tissues. This study aimed to compare the cytotoxic effect of two novel herbal intracanal medicaments Ganoderma lucidum (GL), Psidium gujava (PG) on human periodontal fibroblasts (HPF) by evaluating cell viability using Methyl Thiazolyl tetrazolium assay (MTT assay). Materials and methods: Temperature modulated in situ gel matrix of G. lucidum (GL, P. guajava L (PG) along with positive control calcium hydroxide (CH) and modified triple antibiotic paste (MTAP) was prepared by mixing carbapol and pluronic F-127. All four medicaments were serially tested at various concentrations from 400 to 12.5 µg/mL for six times on Human periodontal Fibroblasts (HPF) for their viability using MTT assay and evaluation of half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) after 48 hours. Results: The novel thermo reversible gel matrix of GL has shown lowest cytotoxicity followed by PG, CH, and MTAP. The cytotoxicity was minimal at lower concentration (12.5 µg/mL) and at increased concentration cytotoxicity was higher (400 µg/mL). The IC50 concentration of GL was highest (1681 µg/mL) followed by PG (1555 µg/mL), CH (1295 µg/mL), and MTAP (665 µg/mL). Conclusion: Novel thermo reversible gel matrix of GL and PG were found to be less toxic than CH and MTAP and also they have shown higher cell viability.