gms | German Medical Science

76th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

04.05. - 08.05.2005, Erfurt

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Cell growth on surface of cochlear implant electrode

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author Uta Reich - Medical University of Hannover, Dept. of Otolaryngology, Hannover
  • Guenter Reuter - Medical University of Hannover, Dept. of Otolaryngology, Hannover
  • Peter Mueller - German Research Centre of Biotechnology, Braunschweig
  • Holger Lubatschowski - Laserzentrum Hannover e.V., Hannover
  • Timo Stoever - Medical University of Hannover, Dept. of Otolaryngology, Hannover
  • Thomas Lenarz - Medical University of Hannover, Dept. of Otolaryngology, Hannover

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 76. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie e.V.. Erfurt, 04.-08.05.2005. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2005. Doc05hno551

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2005/05hno028.shtml

Published: September 22, 2005

© 2005 Reich et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Introduction: Wound healing and affect the effective function of cochlear implant (CI). The impedance of electrode contacts increases and the effectivity of electric stimulation decreases. Cell growth on implant surface depends on surface material and properties. The goal is to develop not attractive implant surface for connective tissue growth.

Material and Methods: The CI bears 22 platin iridium contacts on a silicone cantilever. The cantilever was produced from 2 types of silicones. The femtosecond laser technology is able to produce reproducibly well defined geometric microstructures on the surface of cochlear implant materials. GFP-fluorescent cells allow to observe cell growth also on the non-transparent materials (like platinium/iridium).

Results and Discussion: Fibroblasts grow on the implant materials. The fibroblast growth rate on platinium/iridium is comparable with the growth rate on glass. The cell growth rate on both silicone is lower than on glass. The surface modification on silicone reduces the fibroblast growth rate. Cell growth on the same probe can be observed over several days. The local number of cells corellates with the local geomety of surface modification. Increasing the width of the geometric structure decreases cell numbers.

Outlook: Cell growth on a variety of geometric structures on implant materials will be observed. In further experiments with different surface modifications of implant materials connective tissue growth is to be reduced and the electric contact of neuronal cells is to be optimized. These results are the first step to optimize electrode-tissue-interaktion and develop in vitro and in vivo a functional implant surface.

The work was supported by DFG, SFB 599.