R. Baier et al., The body's response to deliberate implants: Phagocytic cell responses to large substrata vs. small particles, J ADHESION, 74(1-4), 2000, pp. 79
It is important to characterize possible inflammatory responses to small pa
rticles, and to separate clearly these effects from responses to larger obj
ects nearby. This research used a chemiluminescent assay. scanning electron
micrographs, and energy dispersive X-ray spectra to monitor inflammation-r
elated reactive oxygen intermediate (ROI) production and morphological alte
rations of human monocyte-derived macrophages interacting with the walls of
apolar and polar polystyrene cuvettes, in the absence and presence of smal
l particles of surface-characterized Teflon(TM) polyethylene, Co-Cr-Mo allo
y. titanium and alumina. The two types of polystyrene substrata represent t
he "bacterial" las produced) and "tissue culture" (gas-plasma-treated [GPT]
) materials widely used in biological testing and tissue culture. Monocyle-
derived macrophage spreading during contact with the higher-surface-energy,
more polar substratum suppressed "oxidative bursts'' to lower levels than
expressed from rounded cells in contact with the lower-energy, apolar subst
ratum, Particulate matter engulfed by both rounded and spread cells did not
significantly enhance ROI production beyond levels observed for no-particl
e controls during the one-hour exposure time. Biocompatibility of some impl
ants might be related to cell-spreading-induced suppression of ROI producti
on, improving the tissue integration of GPT implants.