In vitro comparison of the cytotoxicity of acetal resin, heat-polymerized resin, and auto-polymerized resin as denture base materials.

This in vitro study aims to evaluate three different base materials (acetal, heat-polymerized, and auto-polymerized resins) on L-929 mouse fibroblast cells over 1 h-, 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-day periods. The hypothesis was that acetal resin would show higher cytotoxic effect than heat-polymerized and auto-polymerized acrylic resins, as it seems possible that residual formaldehyde might be leaching from the material into the cell culture medium. The samples were produced according to the manufacturer's protocol. Then they were placed in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium/Ham's F12 (DMEM/F12) for 1 h, 1, 3, 5, 7 days. After the incubation periods, cytotoxicity of the extracts to cultured fibroblasts (L-929) was measured by MTT assay. The degree of cytotoxicity of each sample was determined according to the reference value represented by the cells with a control. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA. Tukey and Tamhane tests were used as a post-hoc method to determine differences among the groups. Statistically significant difference was found among test groups at all time incubation periods (p = 0.000). The auto-polymerized resin performed higher cytotoxic effect than heat-polymerized resin and it was statistically significant at 1-day period (p < 0.05). The highest cytotoxic effect of acetal resin was observed at 5-day incubation period. In conclusion, the hypothesis was verified, since acetal resin showed more cytotoxic effect on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th days than heat- and auto-polymerized resins. Cell survival rates (% of control) of acetal resin were 58, 54, and 60%, respectively.