Influence of Cu content on the cell biocompatibility of Ti–Cu sintered alloys

The cell toxicity and the cell function of Ti–Cu sintered alloys with different Cu contents (2, 5, 10 and 25 wt.%, respectively) have been investigated in comparison with commercial pure titanium in order to assess the influence of Cu content on the cell biocompatibility of the Ti–Cu alloys. The cytotoxicity was studied by examining the MG63 cell response by CCK8 assessment. The cell morphology was evaluated by acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) fluorescence and observed under scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The cell function was monitored by measuring the AKP activity. It has been shown by the AO/EB morphology results that the cell death on both cp-Ti sample and Ti–Cu samples is due to apoptosis rather than necrosis. Although more apoptotic cells were found on the Ti–2Cu and Ti–5Cu samples, no evidence of Cu content dependent manner of apoptosis has been found. SEM observation indicated very good cell adhesion and spread on the cp-Ti sample and the Ti–Cu samples with different Cu contents. CCK8 results displayed that increase in the Cu content in Ti–Cu alloys does not bring about any difference in the cell viability. In addition, AKP test results indicated that no difference in the differentiation of MG63 was found between the cp-Ti and the Ti–Cu samples and among the Ti–Cu samples. All results indicated that Ti–Cu alloys exhibit very good cell biocompatibility and the Cu content up to 25 wt.% in the Ti–Cu alloys has no influence on the cell proliferation and differentiation.