Fumiaki Hamaguchi and Takeki Tsutsui*
Department of Pharmacology, School of Dentistry at Tokyo, The Nippon
Dental University, 1-9-20 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8159, Japan
*ĘTo whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract: To assess the genotoxicity of seven dental antiseptics,
the ability of these agents to induce unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) was
examined using Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells. Treatment of SHE cells
with phenol or formaldehyde induced UDS in a concentration-dependent manner
as determined by direct scintillation counting of [3H]thymidine
incorporated into DNA during repair synthesis. Guaiacol or m-cresol
induced UDS only in the presence of exogenous metabolic activation. p-Phenolsulfonic
acid, sodium hypochlorite and p-chlorophenol failed to induce UDS
in the presence or absence of exogenous metabolic activation. Our results
suggest that phenol, guaiacol, m-cresol and formaldehyde are genotoxic
to mammalian cells.
Keywords: Dental antiseptic, Genotoxicity, Mammalian cell