On the mechanism of cytotoxicity of silver and copper amalgams in a cell culture system

Abstract

– Silver and copper amalgams show a pronounced cytotoxic effect on monolayer cultures of human epithelial cells (NCTG 2544). Analyses of the medium from silver amalgam cultures showed that, zinc was released in substantial amounts (14 μg/ml after incubation for 24 h). Small amounts of mercury and possibly also some silver were released, whereas release of copper and tin could not be. detected. Toxicity tests showed that 10 μg Zn2+/ml reduced the number of cells by 96% after incubation for 24 h. In the copper amalgam cultures about. 100 μg copper and 5 μg, cadmium per ml medium were found after 24 h. Only small amounts of mercury were released, Toxicity tests showed an increasing effect of Cu2+ and Cd2+ with tune. With 50 μg Cu2+/ml the number of cells was reduced by 73% after incubation for 24 h, and after 3 d a similar effect was found with 25 μg/ml. With 10 μg Cd2+/ml no cells were left after 24 h, whereas after 3 d 1μg/ml reduced cell growth by more than 80 %.

Exposure of RBL-2H3 Mast Cells to Ag+ Induces Cell Degranulation and Mediator Release

“…The effect of Ag ϩ was quite rapid to be observed within 5 min after the addition of the ions. By contrast, Zn 2ϩ and Cu 2ϩ , both of which are shown to be highly toxic for cultured cells (29,30), did not induce histamine release. Taken together, these observations indicate that the Ag ϩ -mediated histamine release may be separated also from the cytotoxicity of the ions.…”

Crevice Corrosion Products of Dental Amalgam

“…Regarding its biocompatibility, studies have focused on the cupric ion (Leirskar, 1974;Moberg et al, 1985). Notwithstanding, CuCl has been shown in this study to be a crevice corrosion product.…”

Comparative corrosion study of Ag-Pd and Co-Cr alloys used in dental applications

“…Thus, it is not surprising that its presence in a dental alloy can trigger adverse biological reactions. These alloys released Pd and Cu ions (Pfeiffer and Schwickerath 1994), which have the potential of being toxic in cell culture studies (Leirskar 1974;Wataha et al 1991bWataha et al , 1994. Because of these problems, some practitioners now prefer to use non-precious alloys such as cobalt chromium (Co-Cr), which, thanks to their excellent properties, have long been used to manufacture removable partial denture frameworks.…”