title: Microstructure and cytotoxicity evaluation of duplex-treated silver-containing antibacterial TiO₂ coatings.
abstract: Implant-related infection is one of the most common and serious complications associated with biomedical implantation. To prevent bacterial adhesion, a series of porous TiO2 coatings with different concentrations of silver (designated as M0, M1, M2 and M3) were prepared on pure titanium substrates by a duplex-treatment technique combining magnetron sputtering with micro-arc oxidation. All coatings are porous with pore size less than 5 μm and the concentrations of silver in the M0, M1, M2 and M3 are 0, 0.95, 1.36 and 1.93 wt.%, respectively. Silver is found to be distributed throughout the thickness of the coatings by scanning electron microscopy. The release of silver from the TiO2 coatings was confirmed by an inductively-coupled plasma mass spectroscopy. The antibacterial effects of these coatings were tested against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli), and the cytotoxicity was evaluated using the mouse pre-osteoblast cells. The results indicate that the antibacterial activities of TiO2 coatings are greatly improved due to the incorporation of silver. No cytotoxic effect is found for the M1 surfaces from the observation of pre-osteoblast cell by MTT assay and fluorescence microscopy. Although the M2 and M3 coatings appeared to be toxic for pre-osteoblast cells after 1 day in culture, the cell viability on M2 and M3 surfaces was greatly raised after culturing for 2 days. Our results suggested that the TiO2 coatings incorporated with an optimum amount of silver can possess excellent antibacterial activities without cytotoxic effect, which has promising applications in biomedical devices.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Surface Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
authors.forename: Xiangyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Surface Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
authors.forename: Haibo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Surface Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
authors.forename: Zhenhua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Surface Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Surface Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
authors.forename: Ruiqiang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hang
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Surface Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Surface Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Surface Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China. Electronic address: tangbin6405@sina.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D016062:Porosity; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D018030:Silver Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D018030:Silver Compounds; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium
keywords: Antibacterial coatings; Cytotoxicity; Silver; TiO(2)