Evaluation of photodynamic therapy on fibroblast viability and cytokine production

• This study evaluated the effects of photodynamic therapy with curcumin compared to 5% sodium hypochlorite and saline solution.
• The effects on fibroblasts viability and on IL-1β and IL-6 cytokine releasing were evaluated.
• The photodynamic therapy, saline solution and control presented low cytotoxic effect, while 5% NaOCl was more cytotoxic.
• All materials similarly expressed IL-1β and IL-6.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of photodynamic therapy with curcumin (PDT) comparatively to 5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and saline solution on cell viability and cytokine (IL-1β and IL-6) production by mouse fibroblasts.MethodsSixty seconds of pre-irradiation time with curcumin 500 mg/L and Led wavelength (λ) 480 nm, 72 J cm2, for 300 s was used for PDT. Solutions were diluted in culture medium DMEM (1 × 104 cells) and placed into 24-well cell culture plates with mouse fibroblasts L-929. Culture medium was used as control. After 6, 24 and 48 h, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay (MTT) was used to evaluate the cell viability and the supernatant was collected for cytokine evaluation using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and BonFerroni correction (p < 0.05) for MTT and Kruskal–Wallis test and Dunn (p < 0.05) for ELISA.ResultsPDT and saline solution presented low cytotoxic effect similar to the control group (p > 0.05) while 5% NaOCl was more cytotoxic than PDT (p < 0.05) in all periods of time. All materials similarly expressed IL-1β and IL-6 regardless to the experimental period (p < 0.05).ConclusionsPDT with curcumin was not cytotoxic to L929 fibroblasts differently from 5% NaOCl. In all groups occurred similar expression of IL-1β and IL-6.