Effect of Surface Treatments On the Cytotoxicity of Porous Nitinol

Porous Nitinol (PNT) is known to have rapid bone ingrowth and fixation properties, because of which it is widely applied in the biomedical field for interbody fusion devices, bone grafts substitutes, etc. Due to the high porosity and inherent high surface area, there is a possibility of high nickel release into body fluids. PNT was subjected to various surface treatments and the corrosion resistance was evaluated by ASTM F2129. The nickel released into the Phosphate Buffered Saline solution was measured by ICPMS. Cytotoxic tests were also conducted to evaluate osteoblast viability and cell growth in the solutions obtained from each corrosion test.

Key Words: Osteoblast, Cytotoxicity, Porous Nitinol, Corrosion.