Effect of roughness, wettability and morphology of engineered titanium surfaces on osteoblast-like cell adhesion

Texturization of surfaces is usually advantageous in biomaterial engineering. However, the details of the textured surfaces can be more determining on cell adhesion and proliferation, rather than their roughness degree. Titanium is extensively used as a dental implant material in the human body. In this paper, the effect of four surface treatments on commercially pure titanium has been evaluated. These treatments were polishing (pTi); hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching (eTi); Al2O3 blasting (bTi); Al2O3 blasting + HF etching (beTi). Roughness and fractal dimensions were obtained from atomic force microscopy. Wettability was measured using water sessile drops. Morphology and surface chemical composition were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). MG-63 cell cultures were performed at different times (180 min, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h). Lowest roughness was found in pTi samples followed by eTi, bTi and beTi samples. Etching generated surfaces with the highest fractal dimension and negative skewness. Young contact angles were similar except for pTi and bTi surfaces. Silicon and aluminum traces were found in pTi and bTi samples, respectively. Cell adhesion (≤24 h) was greater on bTi and beTi surfaces. After 48 h, cell proliferation, mediated by specific morphologies, was improved in eTi samples followed by beTi surfaces. For the same surface chemistry, cell growth was driven by topography features.