Influence of oxidative nanopatterning and anodization on the fatigue resistance of commercially pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V.

With an increasingly aging population, a significant challenge in implantology is the creation of biomaterials that actively promote tissue integration and offer excellent mechanical properties. Engineered surfaces with micro- and nanoscale topographies have shown great potential to control and direct biomaterial-host tissue interactions. Two simple yet efficient chemical treatments, oxidative nanopatterning and anodization, have demonstrated the ability to confer exciting new bioactive capacities to commercially pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V alloy. However, the resulting nanoporous and nanotubular surfaces require careful assessment in regard to potential adverse effects on the fatigue resistance, a factor which may ultimately cause premature failure of biomedical implants. In this work, we have investigated the impact of oxidative nanopatterning and anodization on the fatigue resistance of commercially pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V. Quantitative (e.g., S-N curves) and qualitative analyses were carried out to precisely characterize the fatigue response of treated metals and compare it to that of polished controls. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging revealed the effects of cyclic loading on the fracture surface and on the structural integrity of chemically grown nanostructured oxides. Results from this study reinforce the importance of mechanical considerations in the development and optimization of micro- and nanoscale surface treatments for metallic biomedical implants.

Nanoporous titanium surfaces for sustained elution of proteins and antibiotics.

Current medically relevant metals for prosthetic reconstructions enjoy a relatively good success rate, but their performance drops significantly in patients with compromised health status, and post-surgical infections still remain an important challenge. To address these problems, different nanotechnology-based strategies have been exploited to create implantable metals with an enhanced bioactivity and antibacterial capacities. Among these, oxidative nanopatterning has emerged as a very effective approach to engender nanoporous surfaces that stimulate and guide the activity of adhering cells. The resulting nanoporosity is also attractive because it offers nanoconfined volumes that can be exploited to load bioactive compounds and modulate their release over time. Such extended elution is needed since a single exposure to growth factors and/or antibiotics, for instance, may not be adequate to further sustain bone regeneration and/or to counteract bacterial colonization. In this article, we assessed the capacities of nanoporous titanium surfaces generated by oxidative nanopatterning to provide controlled and sustained elution of proteins and antibiotic molecules. To this end, we have selected bovine serum albumin (BSA) and vancomycin to reflect commonly used compounds, and investigated their adsorption and elution by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate that while the elution of albumin is not significantly affected by the nanoporosity, in the case of vancomycin, nanoporous surfaces provided an extended release. These findings were successively correlated to the establishment of interactions with the surface and physical-entrapment effects exerted by the nanopores, ultimately highlighting their synergistic contribution to the release profiles and thus their importance in the design of nanostructured eluting platforms for applications in medicine.