Human Fibroblast Cell Culturing on Surface Modified Titanium Implants

Objectives: Enhancement of the biointegration of titanium (Ti) by means of surface modifications has several advantages especially in cases of handicapped bone. Three different surface modifications were developed to improve the biointegration capability of Ti dental implant material. Methods: Commercially pure (CP2) titanium discs were covered at first i) with self-assembled polypeptide films (SPF) formed by alternating layering of cationic poly-L-lysine (PLL) and anionic poly-L-glutamic acid (PGA); (PLL/PGA)7PLL and (PLL/PGA)8 films were produced in this way. ii) Ti discs were laser ablated with ns ArF excimer laser. iii) Thin layers were deposited onto titanium substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of amorphous calcium phosphate material that was subtracted from tooth root. PLD-A samples were produced at 250 oC, iv) PLD-B samples were post-annealed at 550 oC for two hours. Human fibroblast cell attachment (24 h observation) and proliferation (72 h observation) was investigated by dimethylthiazol-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and cell counting was made in a Bürker chamber. Results: MTT measurement indicated an improved fibroblast cell attachment in case of PLD-B surface, while for the other modifications there was no significant difference in respect to the control samples. In case of fibroblast cell proliferation the MTT measurement showed a significant decrease in cell number for PLL terminated film and PLD-A sample. For PGA terminated films, laser-ablated, and PLD-B the cell number was almost similar with the control one. Conclusions: The results of our experiments showed that natural tooth material (dentin and cementum) can be deposited by pulsed laser deposition in order to reproduce similar chemical properties to tooth structure. These films can improve the attachment of the cells to the implant surface, leading to shorter healing period after the implantation. Acknowledgment: Supported by the SIMI-NAS GRD3-2001-61801, GVOP-3.2.1.-2004-04-0408/3.0, ETT-434/2006, and the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund OTKA F-68440 projects.