Cytocompatibility of pure metals and experimental binary titanium alloys for implant materials.
OBJECTIVE
This study was performed to evaluate the biocompatibility of nine types of pure metal ingots (Ag, Al, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Nb, V, Zr) and 36 experimental titanium (Ti) alloys containing 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt% of each alloying element.


METHODS
The cell viabilities for each test group were compared with that of CP-Ti using the WST-1 test and agar overlay test.


RESULTS
The ranking of pure metal cytotoxicity from most potent to least potent was as follows: Cu>Al>Ag>V>Mn>Cr>Zr>Nb>Mo>CP-Ti. The mean cell viabilities for pure Cu, Al, Ag, V, and Mn were 21.6%, 25.3%, 31.7%, 31.7%, and 32.7%, respectively, which were significantly lower than that for the control group (p<0.05). The mean cell viabilities for pure Zr and Cr were 74.1% and 60.6%, respectively (p<0.05). Pure Mo and Nb demonstrated good biocompatibility with mean cell viabilities of 93.3% and 93.0%, respectively. The mean cell viabilities for all the Ti-based alloy groups were higher than 80% except for Ti-20 Nb (79.6%) and Ti-10 V (66.9%). The Ti-10 Nb alloy exhibited the highest cell viability (124.8%), which was higher than that of CP-Ti. Based on agar overlay test, pure Ag, Cr, Cu, Mn, and V were ranked as 'moderately cytotoxic', whereas the rest of the tested pure metals and all Ti alloys, except Ti-10 V (mild cytotoxicity), were ranked as 'noncytotoxic'.


CONCLUSIONS
The results obtained in this study can serve as a guide for the development of new Ti-based alloy implant systems.
Department of Dental Materials and MRC for Biomineralization Disorders, School of Dentistry, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, South Korea. Electronic address: yjpark@jnu.ac.kr.
Yeong-Joon
YJ
Park
Yo-Han
YH
Song
Ji-Hae
JH
An
Ho-Jun
HJ
Song
Kenneth J
KJ
Anusavice
D000535:Aluminum / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000633:toxicity*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002857:Chromium / Q000633:toxicity; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003300:Copper / Q000633:toxicity; D003722:Dental Alloys / Q000633:toxicity*; D015921:Dental Implants; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects*; D008345:Manganese / Q000633:toxicity; D008670:Metals / Q000633:toxicity*; D051379:Mice; D008982:Molybdenum / Q000633:toxicity; D009556:Niobium / Q000633:toxicity; D012834:Silver / Q000633:toxicity; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D014025:Titanium / Q000633:toxicity*; D014639:Vanadium / Q000633:toxicity; D015040:Zirconium / Q000633:toxicity
C110656:2-(4-iodophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-(2,4-disulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003722:Dental Alloys; D015921:Dental Implants; D008670:Metals; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; D014639:Vanadium; D009556:Niobium; D002857:Chromium; D012834:Silver; D008345:Manganese; D003300:Copper; D008982:Molybdenum; D015040:Zirconium; D000535:Aluminum; D014025:Titanium
Agar overlay test; Cytocompatibility; Implant; Titanium alloy; WST-1 test