Effects of Ti surface treatments with silane and arginylglycylaspartic acid peptide on bone cell progenitors

Achieving optimal aesthetic appearance is a major objective in dental implant design, and the interaction between the materials and the bone cell progenitors is an important factor in the attainment of this objective. In this study, a novel concept was evaluated by varying the surface modifications on titanium (Ti). Different levels of roughness can be attained by machine grinding (M), sand blasting, and acid etching (SLA) of the samples. The behavior of bone cell progenitors (D1) on the surfaces of Ti disks with different surface modifications was investigated. The surfaces of M or SLA disks were silanized (MS or SLAS group) through treatment with silane/Gly-Arg-GlyAsp-Ser (GRGDS) peptide (MSP or SLASP group) and anchored particles of tetracalcium phosphate (TTCP) on the specimen surfaces (SLA-TTCP group). Physicochemical analysis was performed by metallographic microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and contact angle analysis. The proliferation and the quantitative alkaline phosphatase (ALP) production of D1 cells on the surface of different sample groups were determined. The SLASP group had a significantly larger D1 cell proliferation than the other groups after 4 and 7 d of incubation (p < 0.05). ALP expression was a very early marker of differentiation, and was the first indication of the increasing number of cells at 7 d of culture. Among the groups in the M substrate series (i.e., M, MS, and MSP) and in the SLA series (i.e., SLA, SLAS, and SLASP), the MSP and SLASP specimens exhibited superior differentiation abilities on respective cultures until day 7 and day 10. A high number of hydrophilic surfaces dominated cell proliferation in the early stage of cell attachment. However, factors affecting the pore structure and the surface morphology can improve cell proliferation and differentiation. According to analyses of proliferation and ALP expression of bone cell progenitors D1, the original SLA implant surface can be improved with surface treatment methods, such as silanization and treatment with graft GRGDS pentapeptide. These methods can be potential candidates for the promotion of bone growth.