ABSTRACT: Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) has recently been proposed to
coat orthopedic and dental prostheses with metal nanostructured oxide films through the
decomposition of oxygenated compounds (single-source precursors) or the reaction of oxygen-free
metal compounds with oxygenating agents. The present study was carried out to assess the in vitro
biocompatibility in terms of cell proliferation and activation, of commercially pure Ti (control material:
TI/MA) coated with nanostructured TiO2 film by MOCVD (Ti/MOCVD) using osteoblast-like cell
cultures (MG-63). Evaluations were performed at 3, 7 and 14 days. Cell proliferation showed a
similar trend for Ti/MA and TiIMOCVD compared to polystyrene; cell number increased with time
from seeding to day 7 (p < 0.005), and then decreased progressively until day 14 (ranging from -14%
to -47%). The ALP level and OC production showed no significant differences between Ti/MOCVD
and Ti/MA at each experimental time. Significantly higher ALP levels were found in Ti/MA at 3 days
and in Ti/MOCVD at 7 and 14 days when compared to the polystyrene group. OC production
decreased over time and the highest values were observed at 3 days, when it was significantly
higher in the Ti/MA than in the polystyrene group (50%, p < 0.05). CICP synthesis was positively
affected by the presence of Ti/MOCVD and was higher in Ti/MOCVD than in the polystyrene group.
No significant differences were found between Ti/MOCVD and Ti/MA in terms of IL-6 and TGF-ß1
synthesis at any experimental time. In conclusion, the current findings demonstrate that the
nanostructured TiO2 coating positively affects the osteoblast-like cell behavior in terms of cell
proliferation and activity, thus confirming its high level of in vitro biocompatibility in accordance with
expectation
