Effect of argon protection on the biological activity of acid etched titanium surface.

OBJECTIVE: As the contamina - tion of implant surface seriously affects the early osseointegration of implants and reduces the survival rate of implants, it has attracted wide attention of researchers. The most oral ti - tanium implants used in current clinical appli - cations are stored in sealed packages. During the process of packaging, storage and usage, the implants inevitably contact air, which re - sults in the surface contamination. As an inert gas, the argon has very inactive chemical prop - erties and is routinely used as a protective gas to cut air pollution. In this study, we investigat - ed whether argon protection can cut air pollu - tion and maintain lasting surface biological ac - tivity of titanium implants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prepared sandblasting etched titanium samples under air protection or under argon protection. The sam - ples prepared under air protection were used as the control. With the scanning electron mi - croscopy, the contact angle measurements and the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we ex - amined surface morphology, hydrophilicity, chemical structures and components of the im - plants prepared under two gas protections. By using beagles as the animal model, we as - sessed the bone guide of the implants prepared under argon protection and morphological changes of surrounding tissues. RESULTS: While compared with those im - plants prepared under air protection, the sur - face morphology of implants prepared under argon protection did not change, which had preferable hydrophilicity, and there were differ - ences in percentage of surface chemical ele - ments and chemical structure. After 4 weeks, the bone-implant contact (BIC) in argon protec - tion group was twice of the control group and the difference was statistically significant ( p < 0.01). The Implant Niuchu experiments also proved that under argon protection, the im - plants would have good integration with the surrounding bone tissues.