CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Most metals used as cementless implants undergo some kind of surface modification before clinical insertion. Modifications are performed to promote biological reactions at the interface that lead to bone formation. The material surface modifications and implant topography are critical to the success of bone-anchored implants. Zirconium (Zr) is an ideal metal for intra-osseous implants due to its favorable resistance to corrosion, osseointegration and low metal ions migration. The aim of this study is focused on the first events that take place on anodised Zr implants employing an in vitro approach. The cytocompatibility of the material and its surface treatment was evaluated. Cell adhesion and proliferation were studied in the preosteoblastic MC3T3 cell line 72 and 120 hours after seeding. Our results highlight that anodisation treatment at 60V allowed stronger cell attachment promoting cell proliferation at early stages. After the induction of cell differentiation the cell morphology was assessed through an Actin staining (cytoskeleton) and Hoechst staining (cell nuclei). The study showed an interesting relationship between the differentation process and material surface especially for the samples treated at 60V. In previous studies we observed that some remodeling events take place in the interface between the material and the new bone in vivo, so we evaluated if the surface would influence in the differentiation of the macrophage mouse cell line RAW 264.7 towards osteoclasts cells in presence of RANKL. We observed that the surface treatment not only accelerated the fusion of macrophages, forming osteoclasts but also stimulated a particular cytoskeleton alignment. In conclusion, it can be speculated that, the anodisation treatment over Zr at 60V would stimulate the new bone formation and also the remodeling events may be beneficial for future orthopedic applications.