Effect of smear layer and direction of dentinal tubules on osteoblast adhesion to human dentin tissue

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of smear layer and direction of dentinal tubules on osteoblast adhesion to human dentin tissue in vitro. Dentin disks were made from human premolars extracted for orthodontic reasons. Dentin disks were cut either perpendicularly to the long axis of the tooth or at 45 degrees to the long axis of tooth. The smear layer was removed by 34% phosphoric acid gel from half of the dentin disk surface. Human osteoblast-like Saos-2 cells were grown in RPMI medium with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% antibiotic/antimycotic cocktail under standard cell culture conditions. Cells were seeded into Nunc four-well culture plates at 1.5 x 10(5) cells per well with dentin disks in the bottom of each well. After 1 day in culture the dentin disks along with cells grown on their surface were examined with a scanning electron microscopy. Osteoblasts attached and spread on the dentin surface and formed a monolayer in the presence and absence of a smear layer. Cells spread over the dentinal tubules despite their direction. These results suggest that cell adhesion and spreading of osteoblasts is not influenced either by the existence of a smear layer or the direction of the dentinal tubules on the dentin surface.