Translational characterization of macrophage responses to stable and non-stable CoCrMo wear and corrosion debris generated in-situ for total hip replacement

Metal wear and corrosion debris remain a limiting factor for long-term durability of total hip replacement (THR). Common wear particle production techniques for research differ from the actual tribocorrosion processes at the implant site, potentially causing loss of valuable information. The aim of this study was to investigate reactions to freshly generated and time-stabilized particles and ions released from CoCrMo-alloy using a bio-tribometer, which mimics conditions of the periprosthetic environment. THP-1 macrophages were challenged with freshly produced or time-stabilized wear debris. Wear generation took place in a custom-built bio-tribometer inside a CO2 incubator operating with a reciprocating rotation of an Al2O3 ball against a CoCrMo disc. Two different electrochemical conditions with increasingly forced corrosion rates were tested: +0.45 V (passive domain) and + 0.67 V (transition to transpassive domain). Cell viability, proinflammatory cytokines, electrochemical measurements and ICP-MS metal ion content analyses were performed. Cobalt/ chromium concentrations were 6.6/ 1.6 ppm in the passive domain and almost doubled to 11.4/ 3.0 ppm in the passive-transpassive domain. Under those electrochemical conditions, freshly produced and time-stabilized CoCrMo wear decreased cell viability to the same extent. Secretion of proinflammatory cytokines were not significantly different for freshly produced and time-stabilized debris. This study suggests that freshly generated and time-stabilized metal particles/ions cause similar toxicity and inflammatory reactions in macrophages, indicating that standard practices for generating wear debris are valid methods to evaluate wear particle disease. Other cell types, materials, and corrosion potentials need to be studied in the future to solidify the conclusion. •New bio-tribometer to conduct tribocorrosion experiments and cell toxicity/inflammatory tests in a single setting.•Bio-tribometer to test the cell response to freshly generated metal particles and ions, thus simulating in vivo conditions.•Time-dependent stabilization of metal wear particles and ions.•Inflammatory reaction to tribocorrosion debris of CoCrMo alloys immediately and under time-stabilized conditions.