Laminin-5 coating enhances epithelial cell attachment, spreading, and hemidesmosome assembly on Ti-6A1-4V implant material in vitro.

Enhancement of epithelial cell attachment to laminin-5-coated titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) implant material was evaluated in vitro. Protein analysis showed that Ti-6Al-4V has a high affinity for laminin-5 and adsorbed significantly more laminin-5 than laminin-1. DNA analysis showed that laminin-5 enhanced attachment of normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) to Ti-6Al-4V significantly more than did laminin-1 or uncoated controls. The effect of passivation on laminin-5 adsorption and activity on Ti-6Al-4V also was evaluated. Passivation had no significant effect on the amount of protein adsorbed; however, AFM, ESCA, and ToF-SIMS analyses suggested that passivation affects the conformation of adsorbed laminin-5. Although laminin-5 coating significantly enhanced rapid attachment of epithelial cells to both passivated and unpassivated Ti-6Al-4V, surface area measurements showed that cells spread on laminin-5-coated passivated Ti-6Al-4V covered a significantly larger surface area than cells spread on laminin-5-coated unpassivated samples. TEM analysis showed that cells formed significantly more hemidesmosomes on the surface of laminin-5 coated passivated than on the surface of laminin-5 coated unpassivated titanium alloy. The enhancement of rapid cell attachment, spreading, and hemidesmosome assembly on laminin-5-coated passivated samples may reflect better integration between epithelial cells and titanium alloy and thus may be predictive of long-term implant stability.