The effect of baked areca nut extract on the growth of buccal mucosa fibroblasts from healthy non-areca nut chewers.

Oral submucous fibrosis is a serious oral disease associated with the habit of chewing areca nut. The habit is relatively common among South Africans of Indian descent. The aim of this study was to observe the effect on growth of buccal mucosa fibroblasts derived from healthy individuals not practising the areca nut habit when the cells are exposed to nut extract. Fibroblast cell-lines from 6 individuals were grown in medium without extract and medium containing 50 and 100 [symbol: see text] g/ml extract of baked nut for 8 days. Cells not exposed to the nut extract behaved homogeneously. Reaction to the nut extracts, however, was dissimilar. The cells of 5 individuals showed no discernable reaction to the extracts while in one instance, the cells of a healthy adult male with no physical disabilities, showed marked growth inhibition. Thus, the finding indicates that when the effect of the nut or its constituents are tested on cells, it is necessary to use several cell-lines of the same cell type or a cell-line of which the growth parameters are standardized.