Study of cellular dynamics on polarized CoCrMo alloy using time-lapse live-cell imaging

The physico-chemical processes and phenomena occurring at the interface of metallic biomedical implants and the body dictate their successful integration in vivo. Changes in the surface potential and the associated redox reactions at metallic implants can significantly influence several aspects of biomaterial/cell interactions such as cell adhesion and survival in vitro. Accordingly, there is a voltage viability range (voltages which do not compromise cellular viability of the cells cultured on the polarized metal) for metallic implants. We report on cellular dynamics (size, polarity, movement) and temporal changes in the number and total area of focal adhesion complexes in transiently transfected MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts cultured on CoCrMo alloy surfaces polarized at the cathodic and anodic edges of its voltage viability range (-400 and +500 mV (Ag/AgCl), respectively). Nucleus dynamics (size, circularity, movement) and the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were also studied on the polarized metal at -1000, -400 and +500 mV (Ag/AgCl). Our results show that at -400 mV, where reduction reactions dominate, a gradual loss of adhesion occurs over 24 h while cells shrink in size during this time. At +500 mV, where oxidation reactions dominate (i.e. metal ions form, including Cr⁶⁺), cells become non-viable after 5 h without showing any significant changes in adhesion behavior right before cell death. Nucleus size of cells at -1000 mV decreased sharply within 15 min after polarization, which rendered the cells completely non-viable. No significant amount of ROS release by cells was detected on the polarized CoCrMo at any of these voltages.