Cytogenetic Evaluation of the Physiological Saline Extract of a Newly Developed Dental Material ‘‘ORMO-48’’

The ORMO-48 is a new indigenous material for dental applications, developed by the Dental Products Laboratory of our Institute. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the genotoxic effect of an indigenously developed dental material in Swiss albino mice. The genotoxic effect was evaluated by micronucleus and chromosomal aberration tests. Two grams of dental material was extracted in 10.0 ml of physiological saline at 70 °C for 24 h. The extract was cooled to room temperature and was used for the experiment. The experimental designed had three groups each (six mice in each group) for micronucleus and chromosomal aberration tests. The first, second, and third groups were given a single exposure of physiological saline alone (control), dental material’s extract (test), and cyclophosphamide (positive control) respectively for micronucleus and chromosomal aberration tests. The result of the study indicated that, the percentage of micronucleated PCE (polychromatic erythrocytes) and NCE (normochromatic erythrocytes) induced by the dental material (extract) treated group was well comparable with control group, whereas the positive control induced significantly high (P < 0.001) micronucleated PCE when compared to control. The PCE and NCE ratio of the dental material extract treated group was similar to that of control group. The chromosomal anomalies such as chromatid/chromosomal breaks, centric rings, exchanges, dicentric, and acentric fragments were evaluated. The result showed that the anomalies of the dental material extract treated group were similar to control group, however, significant anomalies were observed in the cyclophosphamide treated group. Hence, the present study concluded that the indigenously developed biocompatible dental material, ORMO-48 is non genotoxic at our laboratory conditions.