Cell Cultivation on Porous Titanium Implants with Various Structures

The paper presents data on the cultivation of human dermal fibroblasts and rabbit mesenchymal stromal cells on two types of porous titanium implants, i.e., those with irregular pores formed by pressed titanium particles and those with regular pores formed by the cohesion of one-size titanium particles inside the implant. The goal of this study was to determine what type of titanium implant porosity ensured its strongest interaction with cells. Cells were cultivated on implants for 7 days. During this period, they formed a confluent monolayer on the implant surface. Cells grown on titanium implants were monitored by scanning electron microscopy. Fibroblasts interaction with implants depended on the implant porosity structure. On implants with irregular pores cells were more spread. On implants with regular pores fibroblasts enveloped particles and were only occasionally bound with neighboring particles by small outgrowths. There was no tight interaction of particles inside the implant. In implants formed by pressed particles, cells grow not only on surface, but also in the depth of the implant. Thus, we suppose that a tighter interaction of cells with the titanium implant and, supposedly, tissues with the implant in the organism will take place in the variant when the implant structure is formed by pressed titanium particles, i.e., cellular interaction was observed inside the implant. In implants with irregular pores, cells grew both on the surface and in the depth. Thus, cells exhibited more adequate interactions with irregular pore titanium implants in vitro and hopefully the same interaction will be true in tissues after the implantation of the prosthesis into the organism.