Rinsing with L-ascorbic acid exhibits concentration-dependent effects on human gingival fibroblast in vitro wound healing behaviour. - GreenMedInfo Summary

Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid has diverse functions in the body, especially healing promotion in tissue injury via participating in the hydroxylation reactions required for collagen formation. Systemic administration of vitamin C plays an important role on gingival fibroblast proliferation and functions. Whether local or rinsing administration of vitamin C alters gingival fibroblast wound healing behavior remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the rinsing effect of vitamin C on gingival fibroblast behavior utilizing anwound healing model. Primary human gingival fibroblasts isolated from gingival tissue were rinsed with medium containing various concentrations of vitamin C. The rinsing effect of vitamin C on in vitro wound healing was assessed using a scratch test assay. Cell migration, cell viability, and extracellular matrix gene expression were analyzed by transwell migration assay, MTT assay, and real-time RT-PCR, respectively. We found that rinsing with 10 or 20 g/ml vitamin C significantly increased fibroblast migration (≤ 0.05). However, no significant effect was found in the cell viability or in vitro wound healing assays. In contrast, rinsing with 50 g/ml vitamin C significantly delayed wound closure (≤ 0.05). Real-time PCR demonstrated that 50 g/ml vitamin C significantly increased fibroblast expression of COL1, FN, IL-6, and bFGF. The data demonstrate that rinsing with vitamin C (10/20 g/ml) accelerates fibroblast migration. However, 50 g/ml of vitamin C increases the expression of COL1, FN, IL-6, and bFGF, which are related to fibroblast wound healing activity. Prescribing vitamin C with the appropriate duration and drug administration method should be determined to maximize its benefit.