Journal of Dental Research, Vol 60, 1724-1728, Copyright © 1981 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
A comparison of the inflammatory response produced by commercial eugenol and purified eugenol
J. G. Webb Jr and N. E. Bussell
Eugenol "purified" by HPLC20 was compared to commercial USP eugenol to
determine if any difference exists between the inflammatory response caused
by each. Mixtures of each eugenol with zinc oxide were also compared. Each
material was injected subcutaneously beneath the abdominal skin of 40
Walter Reed white rats. Ten animals were sacrificed at four different
dates, and the degree of necrosis and inflammation was compared. The
purified eugenol caused less necrosis and inflammation at all times than
did the commercial eugenol. The purified ZOE mixture produced less necrosis
and inflammation than the commercial ZOE mixture at each sacrifice date.
The two mixtures of ZOE and the two samples of eugenol produced roughly
parallel amounts of inflammation, suggesting that the degree of
inflammation of ZOE mixtures is strongly influenced by the amounts of free
eugenol in the mixtures. This study suggests that the impurities in
commercial eugenol do cause an increase in the inflammatory response in the
rat system studied. This increase is most evident at day two and after day
ten.
