Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology
Volume 2007 (2007), Article ID 69036, 19 pages
doi:10.1155/2007/69036
Review Article

Significance of Nano- and Microtopography for Cell-Surface Interactions in Orthopaedic Implants

M. Jäger,1 C. Zilkens,1 K. Zanger,2 and R. Krauspe1

1Department of Orthopaedics, Heinrich-Heine University Medical School, Moorenstrasse 5, Duesseldorf 40225, Germany
2Institute of Anatomy II, Heinrich-Heine University Medical School, Universitätsstrasse 1, Duesseldorf 40225, Germany

Received 18 March 2007; Accepted 5 August 2007

Academic Editor: Hicham Fenniri

Copyright © 2007 M. Jäger et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Cell-surface interactions play a crucial role for biomaterial application in orthopaedics. It is evident that not only the chemical composition of solid substances influence cellular adherence, migration, proliferation and differentiation but also the surface topography of a biomaterial. The progressive application of nanostructured surfaces in medicine has gained increasing interest to improve the cytocompatibility and osteointegration of orthopaedic implants. Therefore, the understanding of cell-surface interactions is of major interest for these substances. In this review, we elucidate the principle mechanisms of nano- and microscale cell-surface interactions in vitro for different cell types onto typical orthopaedic biomaterials such as titanium (Ti), cobalt-chrome-molybdenum (CoCrMo) alloys, stainless steel (SS), as well as synthetic polymers (UHMWPE, XLPE, PEEK, PLLA). In addition, effects of nano- and microscaled particles and their significance in orthopaedics were reviewed. The significance for the cytocompatibility of nanobiomaterials is discussed critically.