Influence of titanium surface charge on fibroblast adhesion

Background: Although dental implants have a high success rate, failure owing to the absence of adhesion between the gingival connective tissue and the implant surface is still being reported. Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the effect of a titanium surface charge on fibroblast adhesion. Material and Methods: An electrical chamber was custom-made to generate negative and positive surface charges on commercially pure titanium cylinders with a potential difference of 4.5 V. Twenty-seven titanium cylinders were divided into three experimental groups. In each group, cell attachment to a positively charged titanium cylinder, a negatively charged titanium cylinder, and a titanium cylinder (control) was studied at three time intervals of 15, 30, and 60 minutes. NCTC clone 929 fibroblasts were used in these experiments. The effect of the potential difference in the pH of Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) was also evaluated using two new specimens at time intervals of 15, 30, 60, and 80 minutes. Results: The fibroblast cell attachment was more statistically significant to the positively charged titanium cylinder than the negatively charged titanium cylinder (p =.002) and the control (p=.000), whereas the cell adhesion difference between the control and the negatively charged titanium cylinder was not statistically significant (p=.808). The range of pH difference of the DMEM in the negative and positive parts of the electrical chamber was 0.46 and 0.30, respectively. Conclusion: Within the limitations of this in vitro study, the positive surface charge of the titanium cylinder results in significantly favorable cell adhesion.