Physical properties and cellular responses to calcium phosphate coating produced by laser rapid forming on titanium

In order to improve the surface bioactivity of titanium implants, CaCO₃ and CaHPO₄·2H₂O powder was used to fabricate a calcium phosphate (CaP) coating using laser rapid forming (LRF) technology. The surface characterization showed that a porous and beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP) layer with small amount of alpha-TCP was formed on commercial pure titanium (Ti). The bonding strength between the coating and the Ti substrate was above 40.17 MPa measured by the means of pull-off test. The elastic modulus and the average microhardness of the coating were 117.61 GPa and 431.2 HV₀.₁, respectively. Through the static immersion test, it was proved that the coating could not only prevent the corrosion of Ti but also promote the redeposition of beta-TCP in artificial saliva. Osteoblasts possessed good attachment performance and strong proliferation ability on the surface of LRF coating (p < 0.05) in our cell experiments. This result demonstrated that the LRF coating could improve the surface cytocompatibility of titanium. Using scanning electron microscopy observation, it was found that osteoblasts grown on LRF coating formed multiple layers in pours. The result of reverse transcription PCR analysis demonstrated that the expressions of ITGβ1 and BMP-2 were significantly (p < 0.05) upregulated on the LRF coating in a time-dependent manner, compared with uncoated Ti. These findings suggested that the LRF technology might be a promising potential treatment for fabricating CaP coatings on titanium implants.