Abstract
The use of titanium implants with adequate porosity (content, size and morphology) could solve the stress shielding limitations that occur in conventional titanium implants. Experiments to assess the cellular response (adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts) on implants are expensive, time-consuming and delicate. In this work, we propose the use of impedance spectroscopy to evaluate the growth of osteoblasts on porous titanium implants. Osteoblasts cells were cultured on fully-dense and 40 vol.% porous discs with two ranges of pore size (100–200 μm and 355–500 μm) to study cell viability, proliferation, differentiation (Alkaline phosphatase activity) and cell morphology. The porous substrates 40 vol.% (100–200 µm) showed improved osseointegration response as achieved more than 80% of cell viability and higher levels of Cell Differentiation by Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) at 21 days. This cell behavior was further evaluated observing an increase in the impedance modulus for all study conditions when cells were attached. However, impedance levels were higher on fully-dense due to its surface properties (flat surface) than porous substrates (flat and pore walls). Surface parameters play an important role on the global measured impedance. Impedance is useful for characterizing cell cultures in different sample types.
Highlights
Studies carried out in Spain indicate that in 2050 more than 1/3 of the inhabitants will be 65 years of age or older [1]
The potentialities of using the electrical bioimpedance measurement technique to discriminate the type of porosity, as well as the presence of osteoblasts attached to the surfaces of the titanium disks, are described
In this work we explore the use of impedance spectroscopy to characterize the porosity of different titanium samples, and to correlate cell response of osteoblast growing in-situ on porous titanium samples, as a potential technique for the real-time measurement of osseointegration
Summary
Studies carried out in Spain indicate that in 2050 more than 1/3 of the inhabitants will be 65 years of age or older [1]. Among the materials used in orthopedics with these fines, titanium and its alloys play an important role, due to their excellent mechanical and corrosion resistance and their adequate biological behavior [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] This presents two important disadvantages, among others: on the one hand, the stiffness of titanium (Ti) is higher (100–110 GPa) than the cortical bone (20–25 GPa), which produces the stress-shielding phenomenon, promoting bone resorption surrounding the implant and compromising, in these cases, the functionality of the implants [11]; on the other hand, the inert biological character of titanium surfaces results in a poor cellular interaction between Ti and host bone tissue—an outcome that can affect the proper reconstruction of bone, resulting in implant loosening [12]. The development of Ti implants with satisfactory Young’s modulus and best cellular interaction for bone tissue replacement remains a challenge to be addressed
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