Milk and egg albumen are superior to human saliva in preserving human skin fibroblasts.

The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare egg albumen, whole bovine milk, human saliva, and tissue culture medium (MEM) for effect on the viability of human skin fibroblasts and their osmolalities. Confluent monolayers of fibroblasts were grown. Growth medium was poured off and dishes were divided into five groups, 15 dishes each of: 1) chick egg albumen; 2) fresh whole milk; 3) human saliva; 4) tissue culture medium; and 5) bench-dried storage without any media. After 15, 45, and 90 min the average number of vital cells was measured using the trypan blue dye exclusion test. Tissue culture medium represented the best preservation media for human skin fibroblast cells (92.8% at 45 min, 87.6% at 90 min). No significant differences were observed between milk and albumen, with a majority of the cells surviving after 90 min (67.6% and 70.2%, respectively). Human saliva, due to its hypotonicity, markedly swelled the cells, causing decreased cell viability (27.4% at 90 min). Bench-dried cells, as expected, showed no viable cells as early as 15 min. The osmolality of the MEM, milk and egg albumen ranged between 251-298 mOsm/kg, whereas the saliva was hypotonic, with an osmolality of 73 mOsm/kg.