Effect of Nanosheet Surface Structure of Titanium Alloys on Cell Differentiation

Titanium alloys are the most frequently used dental implants partly because of the protective oxide coating that spontaneously forms on their surface. We fabricated titania nanosheet (TNS) structures on titanium surfaces by NaOH treatment to improve bone differentiation on titanium alloy implants. The cellular response to TNSs on Ti6Al4V alloy was investigated, and the ability of the modified surfaces to affect osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow cells and increase the success rate of titanium implants was evaluated. The nanoscale network structures formed by alkali etching markedly enhanced the functions of cell adhesion and osteogenesis-related gene expression of rat bone marrow cells. Other cell behaviors, such as proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity, osteocalcin deposition, and mineralization, were also markedly increased in TNS-modified Ti6Al4V. Our results suggest that titanium implants modified with nanostructures promote osteogenic differentiation, which may improve the biointegration of these implants into the alveolar bone

Effect of Amelogenin Coating of a Nano-Modified Titanium Surface on Bioactivity

The interactions between implants and host tissues depend on several factors. In particular, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated that the surface texture of an implant influences the response of the surrounding cells. The purpose of this study is to develop new implant materials aiming at the regeneration of periodontal tissues as well as hard tissues by coating nano-modified titanium with amelogenin, which is one of the main proteins contained in Emdogain®. We confirmed by quartz crystal microbalance evaluation that amelogenin is easy to adsorb onto the nano-modified titanium surface as a coating. Scanning electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analyses confirmed that amelogenin coated the nano-modified titanium surface following alkali-treatment. In vitro evaluation using rat bone marrow and periodontal ligament cells revealed that the initial adhesion of both cell types and the induction of hard tissue differentiation such as cementum were improved by amelogenin coating. Additionally, the formation of new bone in implanted surrounding tissues was observed in in vivo evaluation using rat femurs. Together, these results suggest that this material may serve as a new implant material with the potential to play a major role in the advancement of clinical dentistry

Lactoferrin Coating Improves the Antibacterial and Osteogenic Properties of Alkali-Treated Titanium with Nanonetwork Structures

Titanium and its alloys are the main dental implant materials used at present. The biological properties of pure titanium can be further improved by surface treatment methods. Alkali treatment of pure titanium at room temperature can form nanonetwork structures (TNS) on the surface, which has better osteoinductive ability than pure titanium. However, TNS does not possess antimicrobial properties, and bacterial infection is one of the main reasons for the failure of dental implant therapy. Therefore, it was the focus of our research to endow TNS with certain antimicrobial properties on the premise of maintaining its osteoinductive ability. Because of its excellent broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties and because it promotes osteoblast-like cell growth, lactoferrin (LF) was considered a promising prospect as a surface biological treatment material. In this study, bovine LF of physiological concentration was successfully coated on the surface of TNS to form the TNS-LF composite material. Results from in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that TNS-LF had better osteoinductive ability than TNS. Bacterial attachment and biofilm formation were also significantly decreased on the surface of TNS-LF. Therefore, this study has provided an experimental basis for the development of osteoinduction-antimicrobial composite implant materials for dental applications