Comparing biomedical implant coatings for cell growth promotion

Med Art Review

Engineering

The novel technology concerns a coating that is applied to bio-medical implants. The coating is being tested as to its viability in promoting cell and culture growth.

The big picture of such technology is that it will allow for improved acceptance of the bio-medical implants into the body, thereby promoting improved societal health.

The experiment used an in-lab procedure that compared three different coatings to determine cell growth, surface cell coverage, and cell roundage. The cell roundage verifies the interaction of the cells with the bio-medical device as well as being a predictor of cell death. The scientists used the same procedures for all three coatings.

One way that the experiment could be improved is by using live subjects (be they animal or human). In that way, the environment in which the coating(s) would be used would be more realistic.

The key results were remarkable in that platinum coatings and UNCD both proved to be much more viable than silicon coatings, and that UNCD seemed to be much less likely to produce cell roundage. Silicon coatings were much more likely to produce roundage, with UNCD and platinum were fairly close in the cell viability, cell growth and cell roundage patterns. Additionally the UNCD coating was three times more viable than platinum and six times more viable than silicon when compared in the nuclear area.

One limitation to the results is that it was a relatively small study and that the results could be biased towards the UNCD coating.

I would create a more comprehensive in-lab testing procedure using additional comparisons and I would attempt to discern how the coatings would work under more optimal circumstances.