The Interaction of Implant Materials and Living Tissues A Basic Approach

The Interaction of Implant Materials and Living Tissues A Basic Approach 

The chemical adsorption of biomolecules such as chondroitin sulfate at the oxide surface provides a template for the adhesion of collagen strands that precede osseointegration. The nature of interaction of a biomaterial with a Uving tissue is best characterized by two terms osteoconduction and osteoinduction  

In addition, the concept of osteostimulation by growth-supporting cytokines such as transforming growth factor- 3 (TGF-1 ), insuUn-Uke growth factor-1 (IGF-1), tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) or recombinant human bone morphogenetic proteins (rhBMPs Urist, 1965) continues to be the subject of extensive clinical research, and has indeed also been applied therapeutically (Marks and Popoff, 1988 Service, 2000). 

While this approach appears to provide a promising solution to the many problems that plague conventional biomaterials, there is at least one caveat namely, that when cytokines such as rhBMP-7 or -2 are released naturally by cells, only tiny quantities (in the nanogram range) are sufficient to trigger the bone repair 

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