Radical Scavenging Capacity and In Vitro Cytoprotective Effects of Great Salt Lake-Derived Processed Mineral Water

The Great Salt Lake, located in Utah, USA, is a saltwater lake with no outlet and is surrounded by vast mountains and salt deserts. We aimed to use Great Salt Lake-derived processed mineral water (hereafter termed as GSL-MW) for maintaining oral health. Therefore, we examined its radical scavenging activity as an antioxidant and its cytoprotective effect on human gingival fibroblasts (hGFs). The scavenging activity against O₂^•- radicals was determined by an electron spin resonance (ESR)-spin trapping technique using two kinds of O₂^•- generation systems; however, we could not reach any concrete conclusion because of the interference caused by GSL-MW in both systems. Detection of ·OH radicals using the ESR-spin trapping technique and kinetic analyses using double-reciprocal plots (corresponding to Lineweaver-Burk plots that are used to represent enzyme kinetics) revealed that GSL-MW has the ability to scavenge ·OH radicals. GSL-MW also showed a weak 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH; a stable radical)-scavenging activity. Regarding the cytoprotective effects, subconfluent hGFs pretreated with 10× and 100× dilutions of GSL-MW for 3 min and then exposed to harsh environmental conditions, such as pure water or 100 μM H₂O₂ for 3 min, showed enhanced cell viability rate. Moreover, 10× and 100× dilutions of GSL-MW reduced oxidative damage in confluent hGFs exposed to 12.5 and 25 mM H₂O₂. Our findings show that GSL-MW has antioxidant potential and cytoprotective effects on hGFs, suggesting that GSL-MW can be used to maintain oral health.