Bioactive Coatings Obtained by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation of Titanium Implant and Their Cytotoxicity.

Titanium is widely used as implant material since it shows very good corrosion resistance, good mechanical behaviour and biocompatibility, but it has low wear resistance and high friction coefficient which limits its more extensive application. This can be overcome by production of stable oxide coatings on the titanium surface using various methods. In this study, samples of titanium implant were treated with plasma electrolytic oxidation, subsequent ionic exchange and thermal treatment in order to obtain bioactive layer on their surface. XRD analysis was used to investigate phase composition of the obtained coatings, while their morphology was investigated by SEM. Cytotoxicity investigations by MTT, LDH and propidium iodide assays and light microscopy were done using murine fibroblasts cells L929. The obtained coatings consisted of titanium oxide, calcium and sodium titanates and hydroxyapatite. SEM revealed that the given method, besides corresponding phase composition, enabled specific nanotopology suitable for cell attachment and proliferation. Cytotoxicity investigations showed that these coatings were not cytotoxic to L929 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]