Periodontal disease is pathology of infectious origin, characterized because it causes destructive consequences to the supporting tissue of the tooth, its treatment is aimed at the destruction of the etiologic agents and to the periodontal regeneration. An alternative is the use of homeo-pathic agents because they are natural and are managed to very low concentrations, one of them is the Mercurius Heel ® S as an adjunctive therapy in infectious diseases. In this work, we present the results of an investigation whose objective was to evaluate the effect of Mercurius Heel® S on the viability of human gingival fibroblasts, which were undergoing treatment with Mercurius Heel® S for 15 minutes and two hours to concentrations from 300mg to 0.00006mg. After these times, the treatment was removed and the cells were maintained for 24, 48, and 72 more hours. It was followed by a colorimetric assay for cell viability and proliferation called MTS of Promega ®.Human gingival fibroblasts treated with Mercurius Heel® S showed an increase in cell prolife-ration compared with the untreated cells. Low medication concentrations of 0.0001 mg and 0.00006 mg showed a greater proliferation showed greater statistically differences. Finally, the effect of Mercurius Heel® was maintained for the first 48 hours. Considering the above, the Mercurius Heel® did not provide any cytotoxic effect on human gingival fibroblasts; on the contrary, the cells proliferated, suggesting its usefulness as supplementary treatment for periodontal disease.

La enfermedad periodontal es una patología de origen infeccioso, caracterizada por ocasionar secuelas destructivas al tejido de soporte del diente, y cuyo tratamiento va encaminado a la destrucción de los agentes etiológicos y a la regeneración periodontal. Una alternativa es el uso de agentes homeopáticos ya que son naturales y se administran a muy bajas concentraciones, uno de ellos es el Mercurius Heel® S como coadyuvante en enfermedades infecciosas. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de una investigación cuyo objetivo fue evaluar el efecto del Mercurius Heel® S en la viabilidad de fibroblastos gingivales humanos, que fueron sometidos a tratamiento con Mercurius Heel® S durante 15 minutos y dos horas a concentraciones desde 300mg hasta 0.00006mg. Transcurridos esos tiempos, se retiró el tratamiento y las células fueron mantenidas durante 24, 48 y 72 horas más. Posteriormente se realizó un ensayo colorimétrico de viabilidad y proliferación celular denominado MTS de promega®. Los fibroblastos gingivales humanos tratados con Mercurius Heel® S mostraron un aumento en la proliferación celular comparada con las células no tratadas. Bajas concentraciones del medicamento 0,0001mg y 0,00006mg mostraron una mayor proliferación observando diferencias estadísticamente significativas. El tratamiento a 15 minutos mostró mejores resultados con respecto al tratamiento de 2 horas con diferencias estadísticamente significativas también. Finalmente el efecto del Mercurius Heel® se mantuvo hasta las primeras 48 horas. Considerando lo anterior, el Mercurius Heel® no presentó ningún efecto citotóxico en los fibroblastos gingivales; por el contrario, las células proliferaron, lo que sugiere su utilidad como tratamiento complementario en la enfermedad periodontal. 

Mercurius–Heel®S is a homeopathic remedy used to treat infectious diseases such as gingivitis and periodontitis, mainly in the oral cavity. The main component of this drug is the Mercurius solubilis. Its cytotoxic effect was established based on cell viability and its anti-inflammatory effect by measuring the cytokines Mercurius–Heel®S on human gingival fibroblasts (FGH). We treated cells with Mercurius–Heel®S at concentrations of 300 mg/ml to 0.0005 mg/ml and left untreated cells as a control. Cell viability was measured using the MTS® colorimetric assay and the expression of cytokines (IL1b, TNFa e IL10) present in cell supernatants was performed with Quantiquine® ELISA. From 3.7 mg/ml to 0.0005 mg/ml, we observed a significantly higher increase in cell viability in comparison to the control (lower concentrations of the drug). Cytokine production was not significantly different at different concentrations of Mercurius–Heel®S. There was no significant increase in IL1b, IL10 and TNFa and Mercurius–Heel®S showed no cytotoxic effect on FGH.