The effect on immunocytes of anodic oxide titanium after hydrothermal treatment

All dental root implants come in contact with the oral epithelium, and many complex factors are found to arise in this region. In order to perform a successful dental root implantation, it is necessary to clarify the interaction of the dental root implant material with the host defense mechanisms involved in the specific and nonspecific immune responses to many antigens in oral bacteria and their components. Recently, focusing on developing the dental root implant, the Nikon Corporation improved the surface characteristics of pure titanium even further by developing a hydroxyapatite (HA) layer formed on an anodic titanium oxide film containing Ca and P via hydrothermal treatment (SA treatment). However, since little is known about the effect of SA-treated pure titanium (HA/Ti) on the defense mechanisms of the oral membrane epithelium, we investigated (1) the in vitro proliferation of murine splenic B lymphocytes on the surface of HA/Ti in the presence of three lipopolysaccharide (LPS) concentrations and (2) interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha) production by the reaction of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM cells) on the surface of HA/Ti under the same concentrations. After culture, murine splenic lymphocytes were measured by uptake of 3H-thymidine, and cytokine release (IL-1alpha) from PBM cells was measured by ELISA. Results showed that HA/Ti had hardly any effect on the LPS-induced proliferation of B lymphocytes and IL-1alpha production. In vitro investigations of the effects of HA/Ti on the LPS-induced proliferation of murine splenic B lymphocytes and IL-1alpha from PBM cells might be a useful way of elucidating the defense mechanism between implants and the oral epithelium.