Effect of titanium carbide coating by ion plating plasma-assisted deposition on osteoblast response: A chemical, morphological and gene expression investigation

Titanium is among the most used materials for the production of medical and dental prostheses because of its specific weight, mechanical performances, cost and biocompatibility. Unfortunately the implant may release titanium particles, thus reducing, in the long term, the integrative properties of a titanium prosthesis, producing inflammation, osteolysis and mobilization. To overcome this problem, several coating procedures of titanium implants have been proposed.To improve osteoblast proliferation and implant integration, we have optimized a protocol to treat any kind of implant, based on the Ion Plated Plasma Assisted (IPPA) deposition of a well-controlled TiOx–TiCy–C nanostructured layer.Our approach consisted in a two-level analysis: the surface structure and chemistry of the substrates have been characterized by AFM, SEM and XPS at every step of the preparation, and the effects of the coating on the osteoblast morphology and genetic response (PCR) have been evaluated. These analyses show that osteoblasts grown on the treated titanium samples have a higher proliferation rate, formation of more filopodia and have positively improved mRNA synthesis of proteins involved in bone formation, when compared to those grown on uncoated ones.In conclusion, the combined effects of the composition and morphology of the nanostructured layer deposited with the IPPA technique, is a definite increase of osteoblast growth rate and differentiation, and indicate a better and stronger anchorage of the cells to the coated substrate, when compared to the untreated samples.Due to its relative low costs and adaptability to industrial production, this technique represents a very promising tool to improve the quality of any kind of prosthesis.