Investigation of PDL Attachment to Treated Implant Surfaces

Objective: Previous results from this group demonstrated that a new treatment surface developed for implants had a significant effect upon osteoblast attachment to titanium surfaces. The objective of this project was to observe if the attachment of periodontal ligament (PDL) cells to titanium surfaces was affected by this surface treatment. Methods: Titanium discs belonging to one of six different treatment groups were investigated: Untreated titanium (UT), untreated titanium + treatment 1 (UT+T1), untreated titanium + treatment 2 (UT+T2), SLA titanium only (SLA), SLA + treatment 1 (SLA+T1), and SLA + treatment 2 (SLA+T2). Six discs for each treatment group were seeded with PDL cells at a concentration of 200,000 cells/ml in 0.2ml of DMEM media in 24-well culture plates. Cells were cultured on the discs for ten days, with the media changed every other day and analyzed for changes in interleukin-1β (Il-1β) levels. The cells were then fixed and processed for examination using scanning electron microscopy. Results: Cell viability was above 95% for all groups as measured by trypan blue exclusion. In addition, ELISA analysis demonstrated no significant differences in Il-1β levels between any of the treatment groups, indicating an inflammatory reaction had not occurred. A significant increase in PDL cell attachment was observed with SLA surfaces in comparison to UT. There was an increased attachment of the cells SLA+1 and SLA+2 surfaces in comparison to UT+1 and UT+2. There were no significant differences between SLA+1 and SLA+2 or UT+1 and UT+2. Conclusions: PDL cell attachment to titanium was significantly increased on SLA treated implant surfaces in comparison to untreated titanium. In addition, the new surface treatments produced an even greater attachment of PDL cells on the SLA compared to the untreated titanium surfaces. Funding was provided by NIH R43 and R44 DE015893 and the Baylor Oral Health Foundation.