Nanostructured Surfaces to Promote Osteoblast Proliferation and Minimize Bacterial Adhesion on Titanium

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of titanium nanotubes to promote the proliferation of human osteoblasts and to reduce monomicrobial biofilm adhesion. A secondary objective was to determine the effect of silicon carbide (SiC) on these nanostructured surfaces. Anodized titanium sheets with 100-150 nm nanotubes were either coated or not coated with SiC. After 24 h of osteoblast cultivation on the samples, cells were observed on all titanium sheets by SEM. In addition, the cytotoxicity was evaluated by CellTiter-BlueCell assay after 1, 3, and 7 days. The samples were also cultivated in culture medium with microorganisms incubated anaerobically with respective predominant periodontal bacteria viz. Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, and Tannerella forsythia as monoinfection at 37 °C for 30 days. The biofilm adhesion and coverage were evaluated through surface observation using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results demonstrate that Ti nanostructured surfaces induced more cell proliferation after seven days. All groups presented no cytotoxic effects on human osteoblasts. In addition, SEM images illustrate that Ti nanostructured surfaces exhibited lower biofilm coverage compared to the reference samples. These results indicate that Ti nanotubes promoted osteoblasts proliferation and induced cell proliferation on the surface, compared with the controls. Ti nanotubes also reduced biofilm adhesion on titanium implant surfaces.