Lysozyme (Lys), Tannic Acid (TA), and Graphene Oxide (GO) Thin Coating for Antibacterial and Enhanced Osteogenesis

Dental implants have great potential in the global market, around $3.7 billion in 2015, which will increase to $7 billion in 2023 with an annual increase rate of 8.2%. Incorporating antibacterial and osteogenic agents into implants is helpful to make the dental implants successful, which can be endowed by coatings. In recent years, graphene oxide (GO) and its composite materials have shown advances in the biomedical field. Lysozyme (Lys) and tannic acid (TA) are naturally derived, with promising antibacterial and osteogenic properties as well. In the present study, the strong antibacterial and enhanced osteogenic multilayer coating is fabricated using the facile and controllable layer by layer (LBL) technique to integrate GO, Lys, and TA. The thickness of coating exhibited a continuous growth with the deposited process as proved from UV-vis and ellipsometry data, and the physical properties of the coating, such as wettability, roughness, and stiffness are well characterized. The coatings exhibited the synergic effect on the killing bacteria, both Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria represented by E. coli and S. aureus, respectively, and enhancing osteogenesis of dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs), showing the potential application on coatings of dental implants. Thus, the strategy applied here will inspire the design and development of dual functional surfaces for the success of implanted dental surface in future.