Osteoblast responses to as-deposited and heat treated sputtered CaP surfaces

The clinical success of dental implants is governed by implant surfaces and bone cell responses that promote rapid osseointegration. The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro osteoblast cell response to heat tr eated and non-heat treated CaP coatings. In this study, the heat treated su rfaces exhibited a poorly crystallized HA-type structure whereas the non-he at treated surface exhibited an amorphous structure. The heat treated CaP s urfaces were observed to have a mean contact angle measurement of 57.95 +/- 0.95 degrees, whereas the non-heat treated CaP surfaces were observed to ha ve a mean contact angle measurement of 44.6 +/-0.3 degrees. From the in vit ro cell culture study, the ATTC CRL 1486 human embryonic palatal mesenchyme (HEPM) cells displayed a similar protein production and hexosaminidase act ivity on the heat treated and non-heat treated CaP surfaces throughout the nine day experiment. However, the HEPM cells cultured on non-heat treated C aP surfaces were observed to have higher specific ALP activity after nine d ays' incubation compared to cells cultured on heat treated CaP surfaces. Th e higher specific ALP activity by cells on non-heat treated surfaces were s uggested to be attributed to the lower degree of crystallinity and the lowe r contact angles observed in this study. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publisher s.