Cell-friendly surface could make breast implants safer

SCIENTISTS at The University of Manchester have created an enhanced surface for silicone breast implants which could reduce complications. They did so by creating a pattern which mimicked body’s own surface, such as the basal layer of the skin, to provide a better environment for the cells to grow on and make them less likely to be rejected by the body.

 

Around one in five people who has a breast implant suffers from capsular contracture where scar tissue forms and can shrink after the surgery – causing pain, deformity and the need for further surgery. Fluid from the body can also build up (seroma) and the scar tissue can also cause leaks in the implants.

 

While it has previously been shown that rougher or textured surfaces reduce the amount of scar tissue formed around breast implants, the Manchester scientists felt that they could improve on this further.

 

“The surfaces of breast implants in use today have relatively large features on their surface, which have no discernible correlation with biological features required for cells to interact with. Importantly, the microenvironment created by the features of a breast implant is critical for breast tissue cells to adhere to that surface and grow on,” said Dr Ardeshir Bayat, from the University’s Institute of Inflammation and Repair, who led the study. 

 

Dr. Bayat said that compared to the size of the cells, these bumps on existing implants are so large that “they’re effectively a smooth cliff face compared to the dimensions required for the cell to interact with”.

 

The Manchester scientists approach, on the other hand, was to create a novel surface which mimics the basal layer of the skin, which the body’s cells are more likely to recognise and interact with favorably.

 

The tests were carried out in the lab over a period of one week – a critical early period after surgery, and while the researchers acknowledge that much more work is yet to be done, the new surface reduced the foreign body reaction of the cells when compared to the smooth and larger textured surfaces currently available on the market. 

 

These findings suggest that it this unique surface may help to reduce the likelihood of adverse inflammation and subsequent scarring in the form of so-called breast capsular fibrosis.

 

“Some of the surfaces seen on implants today were designed originally in the 60s and 70s and therefore there is an unmet need for delivering the next generation of biomimetic breast implant surfaces,” Dr Bayat explained. “The original designers found that surface features, [the] so-called ’bumps’ on the existing surfaces had an adverse effect, but what we did was to reduce the size, dimension and appearance of these bumps down from the size of say, a hill, to that of a pebble.”

 

While the smaller, more textured surface makes interaction at the cellular level much better, Dr. Bayat said more that further tests need to be done before commercial application of the new breast implant surface goes through.