Tuning the surface microstructure of titanate coatings on titanium implants for enhancing bioactivity of implants

Abstract

Hui Wang,1,2 Yue-Kun Lai,1 Ru-Yue Zheng,1 Ye Bian,1 Ke-Qin Zhang,1 Chang-Jian Lin2 1National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 2State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Biological performance of artificial implant materials is closely related to their surface characteristics, such as microtopography, and composition. Therefore, convenient fabrication of artificial implant materials with a cell-friendly surface structure and suitable composition was of great significance for current tissue engineering. In this work, titanate materials with a nanotubular structure were successfully fabricated through a simple chemical treatment. Immersion test in a simulated body fluid and in vitro cell culture were used to evaluate the biological performance of the treated samples. The results demonstrate that the titanate layer with a nanotubular structure on Ti substrates can promote the apatite-inducing ability remarkably and greatly enhance cellular responses. This highlights the potential of such titanate biomaterials with the special nanoscale structure and effective surface composition for biomedical applications such as bone implants. Keywords: nanotubes structure, bone-like apatite, cell culture, biological performance