A novel nano-copper-bearing stainless steel with reduced Cu²⁺ release only inducing transient foreign body reaction via affecting the activity of NF-κB and Caspase 3

Abstract

Foreign body reaction induced by biomaterials is a serious problem in clinical applications. Although 317L-Cu stainless steel (317L-Cu SS) is a new type of implant material with antibacterial ability and osteogenic property, the foreign body reaction level still needs to be assessed due to its Cu²⁺ releasing property. For this purpose, two macrophage cell lines were selected to detect cellular proliferation, apoptosis, mobility, and the secretions of inflammatory cytokines with the influence of 317L-Cu SS. Our results indicated that 317L-Cu SS had no obvious effect on the proliferation and apoptosis of macrophages; however, it significantly increased cellular migration and TNF-α secretion. Then, C57 mice were used to assess foreign body reaction induced by 317L-Cu SS. We observed significantly enhanced recruitment of inflammatory cells (primarily macrophages) with increased TNF-α secretion and apoptosis level in tissues around the materials in the early stage of implantation. With tissue healing, both inflammation and apoptosis significantly decreased. Further, we discovered that NF-κB pathway and Caspase 3 played important roles in 317L-Cu SS induced inflammation and apoptosis. We concluded that 317L-Cu SS could briefly promote the inflammation and apoptosis of surrounding tissues by regulating the activity of NF-κB pathway and Caspase 3. All these discoveries demonstrated that 317L-Cu SS has a great potential for clinical application.

Keywords:

• nano-copper
• foreign body reaction
• inflammation
• apoptosis
• NF-κB
• Caspase 3

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Key National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB619101), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (numbers: 81071472, 81371960, and 81301329), the Industry-University-Research-Medical Cooperation Project of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai (12DZ1940203), the Technology Support Project of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai (13441901302 and 14441901000), the New Cutting-Edge Technology Project of ShenKang Hospital Development Center of Shanghai (SHDC12014124), and Doctoral Innovation Fund Projects from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (BXJ201429).

Disclosure

The authors report no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and that there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.