Bone marrow stromal cells generate an osteoinductive microenvironment when cultured on titanium-aluminum-vanadium substrates with biomimetic multiscale surface roughness.

Osseointegration of titanium-based implants possessing complex macroscale/microscale/mesoscale/nanoscale (multiscale) topographies support a direct and functional connection with native bone tissue by promoting recruitment, attachment and osteoblastic differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs). Recent studies show that the MSCs on these surfaces produce factors, including bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) that can cause MSCs not on the surface to undergo osteoblast differentiation, suggesting they may produce an osteogenic environment. This study examined if soluble factors produced by MSCs in contact with titanium-aluminum-vanadium (Ti6Al4V) implants possessing a complex multiscale biomimetic topography are able to induce osteogenesis ectopically.

Benchtop plasma treatment of titanium surfaces enhances cell response.

Objective: Modifications to implant surface properties, including topography, chemistry, and wettability, alter immune response, osteoblast differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs), and implant integration in vivo. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment has been used to sterilize surfaces and remove adsorbed carbon, improving wettability. However, unless it is used immediately prior to placement, ambient atmospheric hydrocarbons rapidly adhere to the surface, thereby reducing its hydrophilicity.

Growth factors produced by bone marrow stromal cells on nanoroughened titanium-aluminum-vanadium surfaces program distal MSCs into osteoblasts via BMP2 signaling.

Statement of Clinical Significance: There remains the need to develop materials and surfaces that can increase the rate of implant osseointegration. Though osteoanabolic agents, like bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), can provide signaling for osteogenesis, the appropriate design of implants can also produce an innate cellular response that may reduce or eliminate the need to use additional agents to stimulate bone formation. Studies show that titanium implant surfaces that mimic the physical properties of osteoclast resorption pits regulate cellular responses of bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) by altering cell morphology, transcriptomes, and local factor production to increase their differentiation into osteoblasts without osteogenic media supplements required for differentiation of MSCs on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS).