Cellular responses to titanium successively treated by magnesium and silver PIII&D

• Mg–Ag PIII&D, a duplex PIII&D process, is proposed.
• Mg–Ag PIII&D process inhibits the adhesion and proliferation of E. coli.
• Mg–Ag PIII&D process facilitates the adhesion and proliferation of MG63 cells.
• Mg–Ag PIII&D process promotes the alkaline phosphatase expression of MG63 cells.

Surface modification of titanium based materials with balanced biological property, i.e. inhibit the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria but promote the positive functions of mammalian cells, is highly desired. Accordingly, titanium was successively treated with magnesium and silver plasma immersion ion implantation & deposition (Mg–Ag PIII&D). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations revealed that nanoparticles were precipitated and bound to the titanium surface after Mg–Ag PIII&D. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results indicated that these particles are metallic silver. Responses of both bacterial and mammalian cells were studied with Escherichia coli (E. coli) and osteoblast-like cell line MG63. The results indicated that the Mg–Ag PIII&D treated titanium inhibits the adhesion and proliferation of E. coli, but promotes the initial adhesion and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression of MG63 cells. It can be concluded that the antibacterial and osteogenic activities of titanium can be balanced by simultaneously taking advantage of the biological nature of magnesium and silver.