Engineering biocompatible implant surfaces

With an ageing population, war, and sports related injuries there is an ever-expanding requirement for hard tissue replacement such as bone. Engineered artificial scaffold biomaterials with appropriate mechanical properties, surface chemistry and surface topography are in a great demand for enhancing cell attachment, cell growth and tissue formation at such defect sites. Most of these engineering techniques are aimed at mimicking the natural organization of the bone tissues and thereby create a conducive environment for bone regeneration. As the interaction between the cells and tissues with biomaterials at the tissue–implant interface is a surface phenomenon, surface properties play a major role in determining both the biological response to implants and the material response to the physiological condition. Hence surface engineering of biomaterials is aimed at modifying the material and biological responses through changes in surface properties while still maintaining the bulk mechanical properties of the implant. Therefore, there has been a great thrust towards development of Ca–P-based surface coatings on various metallic and nonmetallic substrates for load bearing implant applications such as hip joint prosthesis, knee joint prosthesis and dental implants. Typical coating methodologies like ion beam assisted deposition, plasma spray deposition, pulsed laser physical vapor deposition, magnetron sputtering, sol–gel derived coatings, electrodeposition, micro-arc oxidation and laser deposition are extensively studied at laboratory scale. In the present article, attempts are made to give an overview of the basic principles behind the coating techniques as well as advantageous features such as bioactivity and biocompatibility associated with these coatings. A strong emphasis will be given on laser-induced textured and bioactive coatings obtained by the author's research group [A. Kurella, N.B. Dahotre, Journal of Biomedical Applications 20 (2005) 5–50; A. Kurella, N.B. Dahotre, Acta Biomaterialia 2 (2006) 677–688; A. Kurella, N.B. Dahotre, Journal of Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (JOM) 58 (2006) 64–66; A. Kurella, N.B. Dahotre, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 17 (2006) 565–572; P.G. Engleman, A. Kurella, A. Samant, C.A. Blue, N.B. Dahotre, Journal of Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (JOM) 57 (2005) 46–50; R. Singh, A. Kurella, N.B. Dahotre, Journal of Biomaterials Applications 21 (2006) 46–72; S.R. Paital, N.B. Dahotre, Biomedical Materials 2 (2007) 274–281; S.R. Paital, N.B. Dahotre, 2009, Acta Biomaterialia, doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2009.03.004 ; R. Singh, N.B. Dahotre, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 18 (2007) 725–751.]. Since cells are sensitive to topographical features ranging from mesoscale to nanoscale, formation of these features by both pulsed and continuous wave Nd:YAG laser system will be highlighted. This can also be regarded as advancement towards third generation biomaterials which are bioinert, bioactive and which once implanted will stimulate cell adhesion, proliferation and growth at the interface. Further, an overview of various bio-implants and bio-devices and materials used for these kinds of devices, performance factors such as mechanical and corrosion behavior and surface science associated with these materials are also explained. As the present article is aimed at describing the multidisciplinary nature of this exciting field it also provides a common platform to understand this subject in a simple way for students, researchers, teachers and engineers in the fields ranging from medicine, dentistry, biology, materials science, biomedicine, biomechanics to physics.

Calcium phosphate coatings for bio-implant applications: Materials, performance factors, and methodologies

Plasma-sprayed carbon nanotube reinforced hydroxyapatite coatings and their interaction with human osteoblasts in vitro.

Often hard implants undergo detachment from the host tissue due to inadequate biocompatibility and poor osteointegration. Changing surface chemistry and physical topography of the surface influences biocompatibility. At present, the understanding of biocompatibility of both virgin and modified surfaces of bioimplant materials is limited and a great deal of research is being dedicated to this aspect. In view of this, the current review casts new light on research related to the surface modification of biomaterials, especially materials for prosthetic applications. A brief overview of the major surface modification techniques has been presented, followed by an in-depth discussion on laser surface modifications that have been explored so far along with those that hold tremendous potential for bioimplant applications.

Review paper: surface modification for bioimplants: the role of laser surface engineering.

Use of titanium as biomaterial is possible because of its very favorable biocompatibility with living tissue. Titanium implants having calcium phosphate coatings on their surface show good fixation to the bone. This review covers briefly the requirements of typical biomaterials and narrowly focuses on the works on titanium. Calcium phosphate ceramics for use in implants are introduced and various methods of producing calcium phosphate coating on titanium substrates are elaborated. Advantages and disadvantages of each type of coating from the view point of process simplicity, cost-effectiveness, stability of the coatings, coating integration with the bone, cell behavior, and so forth are highlighted. Taking into account all these factors, the efficient method(s) of producing these coatings are indicated finally.

Calcium phosphate-based coatings on titanium and its alloys

Electrochemical–corrosion properties of Ti, Ti6Al6Nb and Ti6Al4V implant materials coated with calcium phosphate (CaP) coatings were investigated in vitro at the open circuit potential using non-destructive electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique in simulated physiological-Hank's Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS). Characterization of the structure and composition of CaP coatings obtained by the sol–gel method was performed using X-ray diffraction analysis. The interpretation of the EIS results was based upon a two-layer model of the surface film consisting of an inner barrier TiO2 (CaTiO3) layer and the outer porous hydroxyapatite (HAP)+β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) layer, described by using the high frequency time constant (τ1HF) and the low frequency time constant (τ2LF), respectively. Spontaneously passivated surfaces of naturally grown surface films on all three substrates in HBSS were used for reference. The chemical composition of the substrate as well as the composition and crystallinity of the CaP coating have a direct influence on electrochemical–corrosion properties of the implant materials under in vitro conditions. Well-crystallized HAP and β-TCP exhibited a beneficial corrosion protection effect on the substrate during prolonged exposure to HBSS. In the case of poorly crystallized coatings containing a greater amount of carbonate incorporated in the structure of HAP, the total impedance of the system markedly changed with prolonged exposure to physiological solution due to degradation of the coating.

Emilija Tkalčec

Papers

An in vitro study of Ti and Ti-alloys coated with sol–gel derived hydroxyapatite coatings