Effect of Plasma Oxidation-Treated TiOx Film on Early Osseointegration

To develop a TiOx film with high wettability using plasma oxidation methodology and to evaluate the effect of such surface modification on new bone formation and early osseointegration.

Twenty sandblasted and acid-etched (SLA) titanium implants layered with a TiOx film layer were modified by plasma oxidation using a Radio Frequency Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (RFPECVD) system. Twenty SLA implants without any treatment were employed as the control group. Scanning electron microscopy was used to evaluate surface morphology of the coating. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was utilized to identify the chemical composition of the implant surface, and the wettability was tested with the help of the contact angle calculation. All implants were randomly inserted into the proximal tibia of 20 rats with a split-plot design. Four weeks after implantation, early osseointegration of the two groups was analyzed by a removal torque test and histologic analysis.

The surface characteristics showed that both SLA and plasma oxidization-treated SLA (PO-SLA) surfaces displayed similar typical isotropic irregular indentations. As revealed by the XPS analyses, both TiO₂ and Ti₂O₃ were coexistent in the PO-SLA surface. The contact angle measurement revealed that the super-hydrophilic surface was created out in the PO-SLA surface. Four weeks after implantation, a higher removal torque value was observed in the group of implants with the PO-SLA surface compared with the control group (12.68 ± 1.07 vs 9.95 ± 1.42 Ncm, P < .05), and a higher rate of bone-to-implant contact was also detected in the same group of implants with the PO-SLA surface (47.79% ± 9.59% vs 39.41% ± 9.00%, P < .05). The bone area ratio was also higher in the PO-SLA surface group than the control group (39.10% ± 10.01% vs 29.01% ± 7.24%, P < .05).

It was indicated that the PO-SLA surface has combined the effect of high wettability and micro/nano-structures to notably increase early bone apposition.