Figure 3.

Surfaces of a polymethylenemethacrylate (PMMA)-hydroxyapatite(HA) composit (bone cement, Osteopal) which were incubated in PBS without FCS (a) and DMEM culture solution supplemented by 20% FCS (b) for 4 weeks. The latter probe showed a protein adsorption in SEM whereas the sample which was exposed in serum-free PBS showed no protein layer on its surface. Figure 2b demonstrates the different protein-adsorbing potency between PMMA and HA. All HA granules were covered by protein deposition whereas some PMMA “balls” (arrows) were uncovered.