Determination of periodontal ligament cell viability in the oral rehydration fluid Gatorade and milks of varying fat content.

The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to determine if the oral rehydration fluid Gatorade could serve as a suitable temporary storage medium for maintenance of periodontal ligament (PDL) cell viability on avulsed teeth and 2) to determine if fat content is related to maintenance of cell viability when milk is used as the temporary storage medium. PDL cells were cultured from extracted human teeth then incubated over timed intervals from 15 to 210 min in the oral rehydration fluid Gatorade, milks of varying fat content, and saliva. Dulbeco's Modified Eagles Medium served as the positive control while tap water served as the negative control. Cell viability was determined using a colorimetric assay that used Cell Proliferation Reagent WST-1. Results using Gatorade yielded cell viability data similar to the negative control, tap water, indicating that this oral rehydration fluid was not suitable as a temporary storage medium for the avulsed tooth. However, the fat content of milk was found to have an effect on cell viability, suggesting that milks with lower fat content may be more appropriate for maintaining PDL cell viability than milks with higher fat content.