Use of sol-gel-derived titania coating for direct soft tissue attachment

A firm bond between an implant and the surrounding soft tissue is important for the performance of many medical devices (e.g., stents, canyls, and dental implants). In this study, the performance of nonresorbable and reactive sol-gel-derived nano-porous titania (TiO(2)) coatings in a soft tissue environment was investigated. A direct attachment between the soft tissue and the sol-gel-derived titania coatings was found in vivo after 2 days of implantation, whereas the titanium control implants showed no evidence of soft tissue attachment. The coated implants were in immediate contact with the connective tissue, whereas the titanium controls formed a gap and a fibrous capsule on the implant-tissue interface. The good soft tissue attachment of titania coatings may result from their ability to initiate calcium phosphate nucleation and growth on their surfaces (although the formation of poorly crystalline bonelike apatite does not occur). Thus, the formation of a bonelike CaP layer is not crucial for their integration in soft tissue. The formation of bonelike apatite was hindered by the adsorption of proteins onto the initially formed amorphous calcium phosphate growth centers, thus preventing the dissolution/reprecipitation processes required for the formation of poorly crystalline bonelike apatite. These findings might open novel application areas for sol-gel-derived titania-based coatings.