In Vivo and In Vitro Antibacterial Effect of Nano-Structured Titanium Coating Incorporated with Silver Oxide Nanoparticles

Backgrounds: Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is one of the most common and devastating complications associated with the implants. Researches have focus on development of a novel biomaterial that could be used for prosthetic coatings, which was expected to possess good antibacterial activity and biocompatibility. Titanium oxide nanotubes (TiO2-NTs) incorporated with silver (Ag) nanoparticles have been proposed to be applied, while cytotoxcity induced by burst release of Ag ion limited its further development. Methods: We prepared TiO2-NTs embedded with silver oxide nanoparticles (Ag2O-TiO2-NTs) by magnetron sputtering and anodization. Viable bacterial count was performed to test antibacterial activity in vitro and in vivo. Potential for cell proliferation was tested by by cytotoxcity assay, and potential for osteogenic differentiation was investigated by ALP, collagen secretion and extracellular mineralization assay. Results: Ag2O-TiO2-NTs could release antibacterial Ag ion in a steady and controllable pattern, without a excessive burst of Ag ion release. Moreover, the antibacterial activity both in vitro and in vivo was satisfactory. Besides, Ag2O-TiO2-NTs manifested good biocompatibility, without significant cytotoxicity or impairment of osteogenic differentiation. Conclusions. Ag2O-TiO2-NTs has the potential to be developed into a promising biomaterial for prosthetic coatings in the prevention and treatment of PJI.