Mohaddeseh Sadat Alavi - Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Sahar Fanoudi - Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Hamid.R Sadeghnia - Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Introduction: Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) has shown good biocompatibility in several studies.Methods: In the present study, the genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of calcium enriched mixture (CEM) wereevaluated compared with MTA using MTT and single-cell gel (comet) assays with serial ascendingconcentrations (0 to 1000 μg/mL) of tested materials.Results: Cytotoxicity data indicated that there is no significant difference between CEM and MTA at allconcentrations except for the full concentration (1000 μg/mL); CEM had lower cytotoxicity. Genotoxic effectswere more evident with CEM at concentrations of 15.6 and 250 μg/mL; however, was less than that of MTA atconcentrations of 500 and 1000 μg/mL. The cytotoxicity and genotoxicity effects of the two experimental groupsgenerally increased with consistency.Conclusion: Under the conditions of this study, CEM is biocompatible in terms of cyto- and genotoxicity. Itappears to be an alternative to MTA as an endodontic biomaterial offering several advantages.

Biocompatible, Calcium Enriched Mixture, Cytotoxicity, Genotoxicity, Mineral Ttrioxide Aggregate