Gentamicin-Eluting Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Grown on the Ultrafine-Grained Titanium

Titanium (Ti)-based materials is the most appropriate choices for the applications as orthopedic and dental implants. In this regard, ultrafine-grained (UFG) titanium with an enhanced mechanical properties and surface energy has attracted more attention. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanotubes grown on the titanium could enhance bone bonding, cellular response and are good reservoirs for loading drugs and antibacterial agents. This article investigates gentamicin loading into and release from the TiO₂ nanotubes, grown on the UFG compared to coarse-grained (CG) titanium substrate surfaces. Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) was employed to produce the UFG structure titanium. TiO₂ nanotubes were grown by the anodizing technique on both UFG and CG titanium substrate surfaces. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging confirmed TiO₂ nanotube growth on the surface. The UV-vis spectroscopy analysis results show that the amount of gentamicin load-release in the anodized UFG titanium sample is higher than that of CG one which can be explained in terms of thicker TiO₂ nanotube arrays layer formed on UFG sample. Moreover, the anodized UFG titanium samples released the drug in a longer time than CG (1 day for the UFG titanium vs. 3 h for the CG one). Regarding wettability analysis, anodized UFG titanium sample showed more enhanced hydrophilicity than CG counterpart. Therefore, the significantly smaller grain size of pure titanium provided by the ECAP technique coupled with appropriate subsequent anodization treatment not only offers a good combination of biocompatibility and adequate mechanical properties but also it provides a delayed release condition for gentamicin.