Respiratory burst response of peritoneal leukocytes adhering to titanium and stainless steel

Titanium sheets, made hydrophilic by oxidative cleaning or hydrophobic by treatment with butanol, and stainless steel sheets with different patterns of pores (ϕ = 0.8 mm) were implanted into the peritoneal cavity of mice. The implants were removed after 2 h, and the surface‐adhering leukocytes were stained with propidium iodide and fluorescein diacetate to quantitate cell adhesion and to indicate the presence of leaks in the cell membrane. The ability of the surface‐adhering leukocytes to mount a respiratory burst response after stimulation with PMA or zymosan was measured by chemiluminiscence. The results show that stainless steel without pores induces membrane leakage in 80% of the surface‐adhering leukocytes compared with 65% of cells adhering to porous steel. Hydrophilic titanium induces membrane leakage in 48% of the surface‐adhering leukocytes compared with 19% of cells adhering to hydrophobic titanium. The respiratory burst response of the surface‐adhering leukocytes stimulated with PMA was attenuated on stainless steel and hydrophilic titanium compared with hydrophobic titanium. Thus, butanol treatment of titanium and pores in stainless steel increase the biocompatibility of the materials. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 57: 238–247, 2001