The effect of a microcarrier suspension cell culture system on polarization measurements from Ni-Cr dental casting alloys

Recent research has demonstrated that cells/cellular components can influence the corrosion or degradation of the implant material in addition to being challenged by the cytotoxic by-products the implant material may release. The overall objective of this research was to modify a microcarrier suspension cell culture system to incorporate an active corrosion experimental capacity. The ability to conduct polarization experiments on two Ni-Cr dental casting alloys under the following environmental conditions: media only, media plus serum, media plus serum and antibiotics (complete media), complete media with microcarriers, and complete media with cells grown on microcarriers; was evaluated during this initial study. Results obtained were reproducible within sample groups (95% confidence level) indicating the precision of the corrosion set-up under all environmental conditions. These studies also show that media with serum and antibiotics (complete media) induced a significantly higher corrosion rate (95% confidence level) for both materials compared to the other test conditions. Future experiments will focus on cytotoxic effects caused by parametrically controlled corrosion experiments on the suspension cell cultures, including co-cultures.