Effects of topical Catalase application on dental pulp tissue:: a histopathological evaluation

Objectives: recently, the role of antioxidant enzymes in wound healing and their therapeutic potential has been a subject of interest in medical sciences. However there is restricted knowledge on the results of topical application, optimal therapeutic dosage and carrier types. The purpose of this study was to investigate the wound healing response of dental pulp after direct pulp capping with an antioxidant enzyme; Catalase (C-40). Methods: three mongrel dogs were used in this study. A total of 32 perforated Cl V preparations were treated with either 0.8 mg (n = 16) or 1.6 mg (n = 16) Catalase (C-40) which was incorporated in gelatin carriers whereas 16 control teeth had carriers without Catalase. One millimeter thick Teflon disks were placed over the gelatin pellets and the cavities restored with silver amalgam. Short term and long term histopathologic reactions were evaluated after 7 and 90 days. Results: there were no statistically significant differences between the inflammatory cell responses of control and either dosage groups of Catalase at the 7-day evaluation period. However, after 90 days, better tissue healing was observed in the teeth treated with Catalase, resulting in significant differences with the control group. Conclusions: it can be concluded that the results of this study encourage the topical use of antioxidant Catalase as a pulp-capping agent. However, further studies are required to determine optimal antioxidant dosages. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.