Impact of Implant Surface Material and Microscale Roughness on the Initial Attachment and Proliferation of Primary Human Gingival Fibroblasts

Marco Aoqi Rausch; Hassan Shokoohi-Tabrizi; Christian Wehner; Benjamin E Pippenger; Raphael S Wagner; Christian Ulm; Andreas Moritz; Jiang Chen; Oleh Andrukhov

doi:10.3390/biology10050356

Impact of Implant Surface Material and Microscale Roughness on the Initial Attachment and Proliferation of Primary Human Gingival Fibroblasts

Biology (Basel). 2021 Apr 22;10(5):356. doi: 10.3390/biology10050356.

Authors

Marco Aoqi Rausch¹, Hassan Shokoohi-Tabrizi², Christian Wehner², Benjamin E Pippenger^{3

4}, Raphael S Wagner³, Christian Ulm⁵, Andreas Moritz², Jiang Chen⁶, Oleh Andrukhov¹

Affiliations

¹ Competence Center for Periodontal Research, University Clinic of Dentistry, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
² Division of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, University Clinic of Dentistry, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
³ Institut Straumann AG, 4052 Basel, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
⁵ Division of Oral Surgery, University Clinic of Dentistry, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
⁶ School and Hospital of Stomatology, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350002, China.

Abstract

Due to the rising demand for zirconia (Zr) based implant systems, it is important to understand the impact of Zr and titanium (Ti) implants and particularly their topography on soft tissue healing. As human gingival fibroblasts (hGFs) are the predominant cells in peri-implant soft tissue, we focused on examining the effect of implant material and surface roughness on hGFs' initial attachment, growth and the expression of proteins involved in the focal adhesion. hGFs isolated from eight healthy donors were cultured on the following surfaces: smooth titanium machined surface (TiM), smooth zirconia machined surface (ZrM), moderately rough titanium surface (SLA), or moderately rough zirconia surface (ZLA) for up to 14 days. The initial attachment of hGFs was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. Cell proliferation/viability was assessed by cell counting kit 8. Focal adhesion and cytoskeleton were visualized by a focal adhesion staining kit. The gene expression of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and integrin subunits ITG-β1, ITG-β4, ITG-α4, ITG-α5, ITG-α6, was evaluated by qPCR. Cell proliferation/viability was slightly decreased by moderately rough surfaces, whereas no effect of surface material was observed. Cell morphology was strikingly different between differently treated surfaces: on machined surfaces, cells had elongated morphology and were attached along the grooves, whereas on moderately rough surfaces, cells were randomly attached. Surface roughness had a more pronounced effect on the gene expression compared to the surface material. The expression of FAK, α-SMA, ITG-β4, ITG-α5, and ITG-α6 was enhanced by moderately rough surfaces compared to smooth surfaces. Within the limitations of this in vitro study, it can be concluded that the behavior of primary hGFs is primarily affected by surface structure, whereas no apparent advantage of Zr over Ti could be observed.

Keywords: cell attachment; focal adhesion; human gingival fibroblasts; implant surface; peri-implant soft tissue; titanium; zirconia.

Abstract

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