Improving the Bioresponse to Polymers Using Zirconium and Tantalum Hybridization

Statement of Purpose: Biomaterials are to replace and/or repair damaged tissue or organs. The most two common biomaterials are metals and polymers. Each of these materials has its own strength and weakness. Metals offer good mechanical strength and bioactivity but lack flexibility. Polymers are flexible and useful in soft tissue applications, but do not provide good tissue integration. In some cases, it is desirable to have a material that shares the properties of both, flexibility with improved bioactivity. The bioactivity of hybridized polymer and metal oxide materials remains largely unexplored. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of adding transition metal oxides from zirconium and tantalum to a silicone-base polymer, on growth of human cells.

Methods: Rapid screening methods were employed in this study to evaluate cellular bioresponses to hybridized polymer coatings applied directly to the bottom of tissue culture plates using a Patent Pending wet chemistry technique. Human cells were cultured on the coated wells and cell growth was determined using Calcein AM and fluorescence microplate a reader.

Results: The results from this study showed that adding transition metal oxides to polymers influenced the growth of human cells. Specifically, primary osteoblast cell density after 2 days of culture was the function of weight percentage of zirconium oxide in the hybrid. Compared to polymer only, all hybrids had significantly higher cell densities. This indicates improved cellular bioresponses to hybrids over polymers.

Conclusions: The results from this study showed that hybridizing transition metal oxides with polymers affected the growth of human cells. Cell spreading and migration were also influenced by the hybridization. Results from this study showed for the first time that growth of human cells could be controlled by addition of transition metal oxides to polymers.