Adsorption of Salivary Proteins on Titanium Implants

Abstract

A major factor that contributes to the failure of a dental implant is peri-implantitis, which develops as a result of bacterial colonization onto the implant surface. Bacterial plaque formation to the intra-oral hard surface is dependent on surface roughness or pellicle adsorption. Early events in pellicle formation may affect plaque composition and pathogenesis. Recent studies showed that bacterial adherence to salivary coated biomaterials had unique characteristics mainly due to the different pellicle adsorption pattern onto diverse substratum. Titanium(Ti) implants present a different surface configuration from enamel and thus may alter plaque composition. Moreover, a surface modified Ti implant has variable surface characteristics according to the modification methods. The present study was designed to qualitatively characterize the pellicle adsorption pattern of the plasma sprayed Ti implant compared to enamel surface in vivo. Enamel slabs and plasma sprayed Ti implants were attached to the buccal surface of a vacuum-formed splint using dental floss silk. The splint was held in the volunteer’s mouth for 2 hours. The adsorbed pellicles were extracted from the substrates and lyophilized. Human whole saliva(HWS), human parotid saliva(HPS) and human submandibular-sublingual saliva(HSMSL) were also collected from the same subject. Salivary proteins components were analyzed by SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis and Western blot analyses. SEM assessment was also conducted to identify the surface configuration changes. Results showed that the plasma sprayed Ti implant pellicle contains different salivary protein component from enamel surface and the protein component came primarily from HSMSL saliva, while amylase, sIgA and lactoferrin existed both in TiP and EP, the blotting intensity was different. A two hour adsorbed pellicle laid