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 reh ydration fluid Gatorade could serve as a suitable temporary storage me dium for maintenance of periodontal ligament (PDL) cell viability on a vulsed teeth and 2) to determine if fat content is related to maintena nce of cell viability when milk is used as the temporary storage mediu m, PDL cells were cultured from extracted human teeth then incubated o ver timed intervals from 15 to 210 min in the oral rehydration fluid G atorade, milks of varing fat content, and saliva. Dulbeco's Modified E agles Medium served as the positive control while tap water sewed as t he negative control, Cell viability was determined using a colorimetri c assay that used Cell Proliferation Reagent WST-1, Results using Gato rade 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 co ntent of milk was found to have an effect on cell viability, suggestin g that milks with lower fat content may be more appropriate for mainta ining PDL cell viability than milks with higher fat content.