Osteoblast Proliferation and Morphology Analysis on Laser Modified Hydroxyapatite Surfaces: Preliminary Results

Biocompatibility has long been associated with surface microtopography, microtexture and microchemistry. The surface topography ultimately affects the nature and the strength of the interactions that occur at biomaterial-biological environment (cell adhesion, mobility, spreading and proliferation). Thus, it is necessary to produce and work with controlled microtopographical surfaces that present reproducible microdomains of a dimension similar to that of the biological elements of interest (for instance, cells). [1] There are a number of substrates that already have been studied (such as silicone, polystyrene, poly-L-lactic acid and titanium coated polystyrene) in terms of surface topography. [2] However, few studies are related to hydroxyapatite substrates. As it is well established, hydroxyapatite is a well known ceramic that is extremely used in medical applications, namely implants and coatings. In this work, the surface topography of dense hydroxyapatite substrates was altered by using KFr excimer laser. Excimer lasers produce high-intensity, pulsed ultraviolet radiation and are especially well suited for materials processing due to their large beam cross-section area, which permits using mask projection technologies to process relatively large areas in a single step.[3]