Sophie Roessler

Characterization of oxide layers on Ti6Al4V and titanium by streaming potential and streaming current measurements

Abstract Titanium and titanium alloys (e.g. Ti6Al4V) are increasingly used as medical implant materials in a wide variety of applications. So far, many surface properties of the passive layer considered to explain interactions with biological tissues are deduced from those of the crystalline phases of titanium dioxide (anatase, rutile, brookite), but do not necessarily correspond to those of naturally formed amorphous passive layers. We report on streaming potential and streaming current measurements on oxide layers on Ti6Al4V and Ti, carried out using a microslit electrokinetic set-up (MES) and a commercial electrokinetic analyzer (EKA, PAAR). Passive and anodic oxide layers on Ti6Al4V, as well as passive layers on titanium sputtered on glass, were investigated in this study. Isoelectric points (IEP) of ≈4.4 were found for all oxide layers. The IEP of the air-formed passive layer on Ti6Al4V did not depend on the KCl concentration. Hence, it was concluded that IEP is here identical to the point of zero charge (pzc). Controversially, the charge formation process seems to depend on the chloride ion concentration in the neutral and basic pH region.

Biomimetic coatings functionalized with adhesion peptides for dental implants.

A complete biological integration into the surrounding tissues (bone, gingiva) is a critical step for clinical success of a dental implant. In this work biomimetic coatings consisting either of collagen type I (for the gingiva region) and hydroxyapatite (HAP) or mineralized collagen (for the bone interface) have been developed as suitable surfaces regarding the interfaces. Additionally, using these biomimetic coatings as a matrix, adhesion peptides were bound to further increase the specificity of titanium implant surfaces. To enhance cell attachment in the gingiva region, a linear adhesion peptide developed from a laminin sequence (TWYKIAFQRNRK) was bound to collagen, whereas for the bone interface, a cyclic RGD peptide was bound to HAP and mineralized collagen using adequate anchor systems. The biological potential of these coatings deduced from cell attachment experiments with HaCaT human keratinocytes and MC3T3-E1 mouse osteoblasts showed the best results for collagen and laminin sequence coating for the gingiva region and mineralized collagen and RGD peptide coatings for regions with bone contact. Our concept opens promising approaches to improve the biological integration of dental implants.© 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers

Physicochemical and cell biological characterization of PMMA bone cements modified with additives to increase bioactivity

Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement is the most widely used material in surgery to fix joint replacements in the bone. In this study, we propose a new approach to generate bioactive PMMA surfaces directly at the site of implantation by adding the amphiphilic molecule phosphorylated 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA-P) to commercial PMMA bone cement, both with or without addition of 1-5% soluble calcium and carbonate salts. The setting behavior as well as the mechanical properties, the bonding quality at the metal/cement interface, mineral deposition, and cellular response for different cement modifications were investigated in vitro. The addition of HEMA-P resulted in entirely positive effects with respect to proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast-like cells (SaOs-2) and a very tight contact at the metal/cement interface. No detrimental changes of other properties were detected. The additional incorporation of salts provoked an increased deposition of calcium phosphate minerals but no further improvement in SaOs-2 cell differentiation. A significant decrease in polarization resistance for cements with high salt content (5%) was attributed to debonding between metal and cement. The results suggest an improved clinical performance of PMMA/HEMA-P composites, which might be further enhanced by small amounts of the soluble salts.