School of Engineering and Department of Orthopedics, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Int J Nanomedicine. 2010 Sep 7;5:647-52. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S13047.
Mostly due to desirable mechanical properties (such as high durability and low wear), certain synthetic polymers (such as polyethylene) and metals (such as titanium) have found numerous applications in the medical device arena from orthopedics to the vasculature, yet frequently, they do not proactively encourage desirable cell responses. In an effort to improve the efficacy of such traditional materials for various implant applications, this study used electron beam evaporation to create nanostructured surface features that mimic those of natural tissue on polyethylene and titanium. For other materials, it has been shown that the creation of nanorough surfaces increases surface energy leading to greater select protein (such as vitronectin and fibronectin) interactions to increase specific cell adhesion. Here, osteoblast (bone forming cells) and endothelial cell (cells that line the vasculature) adhesion was determined on nanostructured compared to conventional, nano-smooth polyethylene and titanium. Results demonstrated that nanorough surfaces created by electron beam evaporation increased the adhesion of both cells markedly better than conventional smooth surfaces. In summary, this study provided evidence that electron beam evaporation can modify implant surfaces (specifically, polyethylene and titanium) to have nanostructured surface features to improve osteoblast and endothelial cell adhesion. Since the adhesion of anchorage dependent cells (such as osteoblasts and endothelial cells) is a prerequisite for their long-term functions, this study suggests that electron beam evaporation should be further studied for improving materials for various biomedical applications.
由于某些合成聚合物（如聚乙烯）和金属（如钛）具有理想的机械性能（如高耐久性和低磨损），它们在从骨科到脉管系统的医疗器械领域得到了广泛应用，但它们通常不能主动促进理想的细胞反应。为了提高这些传统材料在各种植入物应用中的功效，本研究使用电子束蒸发在聚乙烯和钛上创建模仿天然组织的纳米结构表面特征。对于其他材料，已经表明纳米粗糙表面的创建会增加表面能，从而导致更多的特定蛋白质（如纤连蛋白和层粘连蛋白）相互作用，以增加特定的细胞黏附。在这里，与传统的纳米光滑聚乙烯和钛相比，研究人员确定了纳米结构对成骨细胞（骨形成细胞）和内皮细胞（血管内皮细胞）黏附的影响。结果表明，电子束蒸发产生的纳米粗糙表面显著增加了两种细胞的黏附，明显优于传统的光滑表面。总之，本研究提供了证据表明，电子束蒸发可以修饰植入物表面（特别是聚乙烯和钛），使其具有纳米结构表面特征，从而提高成骨细胞和内皮细胞的黏附。由于锚定依赖性细胞（如成骨细胞和内皮细胞）的黏附是其长期功能的前提，因此本研究表明，电子束蒸发应该进一步研究，以改善各种生物医学应用的材料。
