SCANNING ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC, TRANSMISSION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC, ANDCONFOCAL LASER-SCANNING MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATION OF FIBROBLASTS CULTURED ON MICROGROOVED SURFACES OF BULK TITANIUM SUBSTRATA

During this study, microtechnology and plasma etching were used to pro duce gratings 1.0 (TiD01), 2.0 (TiD02), 5.0 (TiD05), and 10.0 mu m wid e (TiD10) into commercially pure titanium wafers. After incubation of rat dermal fibroblast (RDFs) on these surfaces for 3 days, the cells w ere observed with scanning electron (SEM), transmission electron (TEM) , and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Results showed that t he RDFs as a whole and their stress fibers oriented strictly parallel to the surface pattern on the TiD01 and TiD02 surfaces. On the TiD05 a nd TiD10 surfaces, this orientation was not observed. In addition, TEM and CLSM demonstrated that the focal adhesion points (FAP) were locat ed mainly on the surface pattern ridges. TEM revealed that FAP were wr apped occasionally around the edges of the ridges. Only the RDFs on bo th the TiD05 and TiD10 surfaces protruded into the grooves and possess ed FAP on the walls of the grooves. Attachment to the groove floor tva s observed only on the TiD10 textures. Comparison of these results wit h earlier observations on microtextured silicone rubber substrata sugg ests that material-specific properties do not influence the orientatio nal effect of the surface texture on the observed RDF cellular behavio r. The proliferation rate of the RDFs, however, seems to be much highe r on titanium than on silicone rubber substrata. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.