Enhancement of osteoprogenitor cell response on titanium by helium atmospheric pressure glow discharge treatment

Abstract

Titanium and its alloys are widely used in dental or orthopedic implants, thanks to their excellent mechanical properties and high biocompatibility. The current approach in biomaterial design is to induce in situ regeneration of bone tissue and thus improve integration of the implants and reduce their failure. This study examines helium atmospheric pressure glow discharge (He-APGD) treatment as a method of surface modification for improving osteoinductive properties of titanium. He-APGD treatment effectively modified the titanium surfaces, by rapidly cleansing the surface contaminants and creating highly hydrophilic surface. The effect of plasma treatment of titanium on the initial phase of cell response to biomaterial was examined. A significantly higher fibronectin adsorption, followed by enhanced adhesion, spreading and proliferation of osteoblast progenitor cells (MC3T3-E1, mouse pre-osteoblasts and primary cultures of human mesenchymal stem cells and dental pulp stem cells) was observed on plasma treated titanium in comparison with the non-treated control. Moreover, this positive effect seemed to increase gradually with the increasing plasma treatment time. These in vitro results demonstrate that He-APGD treatment is an effective and promising method of surface modification for improving titanium bioactivity.