Effect of grooved titanium substratum on human osteoblastic cell growth

Various surface treatments have been developed to increase the clinical performance of titanium-based implants. Many in vitro tests have been carried out on substrates with varied surface topography for a complete understanding of osteoblasts. In previous research, we made the observation that surface roughness must be taken into account, not only in terms of amplitude but also in terms of organization. In this study, we tested the adhesion and proliferation of human primary osteoblasts on grooved titanium surfaces with various amplitudes and organizations of topography. The roughness was described at a scale above (macro-roughness) or below (micro-roughness) the cell size. We observed better orientation and proliferation of human osteoblasts on surfaces with a micro-roughness characterized by a lower Order (parameter describing the organization of topography) and by a higher Ra and Rz (parameters describing the amplitude of topography). It appears that cultured human osteoblasts prefer surfaces with relatively high micro-roughness amplitude and with a low level of repeatability. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.