This in vivo study evaluated, through the physicochemical assay method for quantification of enhanced vascular permeability, the irritating potential of EDTA, EGTA, citric acid and saline. Thirty-two male Wister rats were anesthetized and four experimental sites were demarcated on their backs. Injections of 2% Evans blue (20 mg/kg) were administered intravenously into the lateral caudal vein. The test solutions were immediately injected intradermally (0.01 mL) into the experimental sites. The animals were killed 30 min, 1, 3 and 6 h after injection of the solutions and each piece of skin was submerged in formamide and incubated at 45ºC for 72 h. After filtration, the optical density was measured in a spectrophotometer and the total amount of dye extracted from the samples was calculated by means of a standard calibration curve. Data were analyzed statistically by two-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD test. Compared to control, EDTA had the greatest volume of dye followed by EGTA and citric acid, for all time periods. There were statistically significant differences between all solutions (p<0.01). Considering the periods assessed, a significant difference was observed between the 3- and 6-h groups (p<0.05), but not between the 30-min and 1-h groups. Among the organic acids evaluated in this study, citric acid yielded the lowest amount of extracted dye. This indicates that the citric acid was the least irritating solution.
biocompatibility; citric acid; EDTA; EGTA; root canal therapy
