Evaluation of the Biological Behavior of Mucograft® in Human Gingival Fibroblasts: An In Vitro Study.

Mucograft(r) is a resorbing porcine matrix composed of type I and type III collagen, used for soft tissue augmentation in guided tissue bony regeneration procedures. This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the biological behavior of Mucograft(r) in human gingival fibroblasts, as well as the ability of the matrix to induce production of extracellular matrix. Six resorbing Mucograft(r) matrices (MCG) were cut into 3 x 2 mm rectangles and 5 x 5 mm squares and were placed in 96- and 24-well plates, respectively. The control group (CTRL) consisted of cells plated on polystyrene without the MCG. After one, two, three and seven days, cell proliferation and viability were assessed using the Trypan exclusion method and MTT test, respectively. Type III collagen (COL 3A1) and vimentin (VIM) expression were also evaluated at 10 and 14 days, using Western blotting. Statistical analysis, using ANOVA with post hoc Bonferroni test, revealed that human gingival fibroblasts from MCG showed similar results (p>0.05) for proliferation and viability as the cells cultured on CTRL. After 14 days, a significant decrease in COL 3A1 expression (p<0.05) was observed when cultured with the MCG. VIM expression showed no significant difference at any time period (p>0.05). Although no increase in extracellular matrix secretion was observed in this in vitro study, Mucograft(r) presented cellular compatibility, being an option for a scaffold whenever it is required.