Tissue Response of Chick Chorioallantoic Membranes to Dental Implant Materials

¹ Departments of Microbiology and Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Epithelial and connective tissue responses of the chick chorioallantoic (CA) membrane toward 23 different kinds of materials that might be employed in dental prostheses were studied. The materials were placed onto the CA membranes of 9-day embryonated chicken eggs and incubated for 7 days at 39° C., after which the CA membranes were dissected out, fixed, sectioned, and stained.

Histopathologic responses varied widely. A mild response was found with a commercial epoxy resin and a chrome-cobalt alloy. Moderate inflammatory responses, involving connective tissue and cellular, vascular, and lymphatic elements and causing signs of epithelial cytolysis, were present against most of the methyl methacrylates and a number of the epoxy resins. In all of these elements, there were degenerative changes with severe reactions to aluminum, an epoxy resin, and a polyurethane.