Effects of structural property and surface modification of Ti6Ta4Sn scaffolds on the response of SaOS2 cells for bone tissue engineering

The physical properties of the new porous Ti6Ta4Sn alloy scaffold, including the porosity and the pore size and various surface modifications, were investigated in terms of its effect on osteoblast-like SaOS2 cells. Results indicated that the cell adhesion density on the scaffolds was directly proportional to porosity in the range of 25–75%, but was inversely proportional to pore size in the range of 75–900 μm. Surface modifications, including alkali-heat treatment (AH), sol–gel hydroxyapatite coating (HA) and alkali-heat treatment plus simulated body fluid (SBF) soaking, significantly enhanced the osteoblast-like cell adhesion on the Ti6Ta4Sn scaffold. It is also noticed that the sol–gel hydroxyapatite coating process was more effective compared to the other two processes (AH and AH plus SBF soaking) in terms of enhancing the cell adhesion density of the scaffold. The porous Ti6Ta4Sn scaffold is thought to be a promising orthopedic implant material by virtue of its excellent biomechanical properties, in vitro bioactivity and biocompatibility highly preferred by osteoblast-like cells.