Suppression of osteoblast function by titanium particles.

In order to understand the effect of particulate debris on osteoblast function, we studied the effect of different particles, including titanium and polystyrene, on bone collagen mRNA (messenger RNA) with the use of Northern blot hybridization analysis, and we studied the effect of the particles on the biosynthesis of bone collagen with analysis of 3H-proline incorporation and with the Western blot technique. The steady-state levels of mRNA for procollagens alpha1(I) and alpha1(III) were markedly suppressed in human MG-63 osteoblast-like cells exposed to phagocytosable titanium particles that were smaller than three micrometers. Both titanium and polystyrene particles smaller than three micrometers suppressed the expression of the gene that codes for collagen, and the suppression of the expression of the gene was related to the size but not to the composition of the particles. The biosynthesis of both type-I and type-III collagen also was decreased in cells that had been treated with titanium particles. Neither the viability nor the proliferation of cells was affected by particulate debris. These data indicate that phagocytosable titanium particles can significantly suppress the expression of the gene that codes for collagen in osteoblast-like cells (p < 0.05).