Effect of the Surface of Medical Titanium Endoprostheses on the Efficiency of Fibrointegration

Abstract

Titanium alloys approved for clinical application are used to manufacture various endoprostheses. Engraftment of the implant in bone tissue (osseointegration) is characterized by direct contact and functional connection between the implant and the bone tissue. The process of implant engraftment in soft tissue is characterized by fibrointegration, i.e., interaction between the endoprosthesis material and soft tissue; as a result, connective tissue having a fibrous structure is formed on the endoprosthesis surface. The process of the engraftment of titanium implants greatly depends on the properties of the implant surface; therefore, to improve the efficiency of fibrointegration, various methods for modifying the implant surface are designed to impart them with the necessary biomedical properties. Implants with a polished surface, with surfaces of varying degrees of roughness, as well as those coated with titanium dioxide with the anatase structure are considered. The use of atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and profilometry in studies of mesenchymal stem-cell adhesion and in vitro studies of implants with differently treated surface, which were embedded into the soft tissues of experimental animals, made it possible to determine the requirements for the optimal surface treatment of titanium implants used in maxillofacial surgery.