Chitosan patterning on titanium implants

Titanium and its alloys are widely used in medical implants because of their excellent properties. However, bacterial infection is a frequent cause of titanium-based implant failure and also compromises its osseointegration. In this study, we report a new simple method of providing titanium surfaces with antibacterial properties by alternating antibacterial chitosan domains with titanium domains in the micrometric scale. Surface microgrooves were etched on pure titanium disks at intervals of 60 μm using a modified 3D printer and were then coated with chitosan antibacterial polysaccharide. The dimensions of the patterned microgrooves made it possible to fix the chitosan domains to the titanium substrate without the need for covalent bonding. These domains were stable after 5 days of immersion in water and reduced the surface contact angle. Preliminary cell adhesion assays demonstrated that MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts preferentially adhered to the titanium regions, while C2C12 myoblasts were uniformly distributed over the whole surface.