Combined effect of grain refinement and surface modification of pure titanium on the attachment of mesenchymal stem cells and osteoblast-like SaOS-2 cells

- Bulk structure was found to affect surface characteristics and cell response of Ti.
- The effect of grit blasting and etching of coarse and fine grained Ti on cell viability was studied.
- Cell viability was correlated with sub-5 nm scale roughness on titanium.
- Grain refinement of titanium enhanced the viability of adMSCs and SaOS-2 cells.

Surface modification is an important step in production of medical implants. Surface roughening creates additional surface area to enhance the bonding between the implant and the bone. Recent research provided a means to alter the microstructure of titanium by severe plastic deformation (SPD) in order to increase its strength, and thereby reduce the size of the implants (specifically, their diameter). The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of bulk microstructure of commercially pure titanium with coarse-grained (CG) and ultrafine-grained (UFG) bulk structure on the surface state of these materials after surface modification by sand blasting and acid etching (SLA). It was shown that SLA-modified surface characteristics, in particular, roughness, chemistry, and wettability, were affected by prior SPD processing.Additionally, biocompatibility of UFG titanium was examined using osteosarcoma cell line SaOS-2 and primary human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (adMSC) cultures. Enhanced cell viability as well as increased matrix mineralization during osteogenic differentiation of MSCs on the surface of ultrafine-grained titanium was shown.