PRETREATMENT OF TITANIUM IMPLANTS WITH LANTHANUM IONS ALTERS THE BONE REACTION

The experiment was designed to study the effect of chemical modification of titanium surfaces on the response from body fluids and tissues after implantation. By treatment of titanium dioxide and titanium with lanthanum ions, which have high affinity for calcium binding sites, an increased protein adsorption was observed. The in vivo effect was also studied both on rats and rabbits, with an inhibition of osseointegration as a result. The observations in the present study indicated that it is possible to change the healing response of titanium by chemically changing its surface properties.