Plasma of argon enhances the adhesion of murine osteoblasts on different graft materials

Objective: Plasma of argon treatment was demonstrated to increase material surface energy leading tostronger and faster interaction with cells. The aim of the present in vitro study was to test the effect ofplasma treatment on different graft materials.Materials and methods: Synthetic hydroxyapatite (Mg-HA), biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP), cancellousand cortical xenogeneic bone matrices (CaBM, CoBM) were used representing commonly used classes ofbone substitute materials. Fifty serially numbered disks with a 10 mm-diameter from each graft materialwere randomly divided into two groups:test group (argon plasma treatment) and control group (absenceof treatment).Cell morphology (using pre-osteoblastic murine cells) and protein adsorption were analyzed at allsamples from both the test and control group.Differences between groups were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney test setting the level of significance at p < 0.05.Results: Plasma treatment significantly increased the protein adsorption at all samples.Similarly, plasma treatment significantly increased cell adhesion in all groups.Conclusions: Data confirmed that non-atmospheric plasma of argon treatmentled to an increase of proteinadsorption and cell adhesion in all groups of graft material to a similar extent.Clinical relevance: Plasma of argon is able to improve the surface conditions of graft materials