Establishment of a novel in vitro test setup exposing adherent cells to wear particles made of polyethylene

Wear debris from endoprostheses leads to osteolysis and causes aseptic loosening. Cellular interactions with ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) particles are rarely described because of the difficulty of incubation of adherent cells with floating polyethylene particles in vitro.The aim of this study was to develop a technique for analysing interactions of adherent cells with UHMW-PE particles in vitro. Therefore, different volumes of a wear particle suspension, generated in a standard hip wear simulator, were digested and filtered through polycarbonate filters. The filters were applied to cell culture inserts cultivated with human osteoblasts. Particle analysis resulted in a significant reduction of particle numbers in different suspension volumes.Exposure to the highest particle density resulted in a significant decrease of collagen 1 synthesis as well as a tendency for increasing matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) production. Therefore, involvement of osteoblasts in matrix degradation due to wear debris can be assumed.