Objective: The aim of the present, microcomputed tomographic (mCT) and histological study, was to evaluate the effect of surface modification by atmospheric pressure cold plasma (APCP) on vertical guided bone regeneration in a rabbit calvaria model. Material-Methods: The experimental study was conducted on 12 male New Zealand rabbits with healing periods of 45 and 90 days. Following surgical exposure of the calvarium, 4 customized titanium cylindricalders were fixed. Surface modification was achieved by application of APCP on 2 of cylinders (Pþ) in each calvarium and other cylinders were set as control (P-). In both experimental and control groups, one of the cylinders was filled with bone graft (Gþ) while the other one was left empty (G-). To evaluate short term effects, randomly selected 6 animals were sacrificed at the end of 45 days and remaining 6 animals were left for observing long term effects. Histological and mCT evaluations were used to examine new bone formation. Results: In mCT imaging; the bone volume was greater (P < 0.05) in grafted groups than nongrafted groups in both short and long term. The bone height values were significantly different in (P-G-) group than other groups (P < 0.05) in both evaluation periods. The histological evaluations revealed significant differences between PþGþ group and other groups but in long term both plasma treated groups revealed more bone formation than non plasma treated groups. Conclusion: Modification of the surfaces of titanium cylinders by APCP treatment, accelerated the bone regeneration either bone graft used or not in a rabbit calvaria model.@en

INTRODUCTION: Barrier membranes are used to create an empty space in the bone defects and to stabilize the blood clot to prevent soft tissue migration. Materials used as barriers should be characterized by some physico-chemical properties to improve biocompatibility, tissue integration, void formation ability and clinical use. The application of atmospheric cold plasma(ACP), which has been shown to increase surface energy and wettability in various materials intended to work, angularly examines and correlates the cellular uptake, protein adsorption and wettability on the surface of the titanium mesh. METHODS: Mesh with dimensions of 1x1 cm and a diameter of 1.6 mm with a thickness of 0.3 mm was treated with air barrier plasma obtained by using a specially produced microsensor pulsed plasma power source. While there is no application in the control group, the mills in the study group were subjected to ACP application with microgeneration plasma generator for 90 seconds. The contact angle measurements were made using a goniometer. RESULTS: The best result in the wettability evaluation was found to be measured in 90 seconds time. There was no statistically significant difference between the amount of protein in samples removed from the incubator after 6 hours of incubation period (p>0.05). There is a statistically significant difference between the groups in the 24-hour time frame (p<0.05). No significant difference was found on day 1 in cell viability (p>0.05) and expression, but a significant difference was found on days 3 and 5 (p<0.05). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Recently, argon atmospheric pressure plasma has been reported to increase cell diffusion and wettability in titanium discs. In terms of wettability, in accordance with other studies, our work also resulted in the ACP application increasing the wettability and decreasing the contact angle. Long-term effects on cell adhesion and proliferation are seen. Consequently, there is a need for further experimental and clinical studies of the subject. @en