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Preface: ”Symposium on Implant-Stimulated Interface Reactions,” Klinikum Steglitz, Free University of Berlin, February 18 and 19,1983

In 1981, the Council of the European Society for Biomaterials found it timely to call for a symposium on implant-stimulated interface reactions, to be organized jointly with the Free University of Berlin. The scope of this symposium was to be the analysis of the structural and functional role of the interface between material and tissue incorporating the implant.

The reparative capacity of the implant site is determined by inherited and acquired factors, and the influences of inert or non-inert, i.e., surface reactive materials interact at the interface. The non-inert materials are considered to

Klinikum Steglitz-Free University of Berlin

Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Vol. 19, 197-198 (1985) 0 1985 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0021-9304/85/030197-02$04.00

198 GROSS, STRUNZ, AND PLENK

stimulate, hamper, or at least to modify the interfacial tissue reactions. These primary physical and chemical effects of the material can also be modified by secondary effects, e. g. , biomechanical influences, during the functional use of an implant.

The framework for the symposium was outlined in keynote lectures by invited speakers in which basic scientific data were presented to the audience., Short communications which demonstrated the present state of knowledge about glass-based and ceramic materials, metals, and polymers rounded out the program. It became evident that the responses could best be explained on the basis of an induced rather than a stimulated response.

To make these contributions available for all researchers in the biomaterials field, the authors were invited to submit their papers for regular publication in the Jour~a l of Biomedical Materials Research -the result is this special issue. The authors and the organizers are deeply indebted to the numerous referees for their critical reviews and to the publishers.

June 1984

U. Gross V. Strunz H. Plenk