RGD nanodomains grafting onto titanium surface

Titanium alloys exhibit excellent biocompatibility and corrosion resistance in the body fluid and possess mechanical properties similar of the bones´ properties. When the loss of osseous is important in osseous surgery, large biomaterials are implanted and should be accepted by the organism. For increasing the biomaterials biocompatibility, biological compounds can be linked or deposited on the material surface making them biologically active. In order to study the tissue-implant interaction and to favor osteoblast-adhesion onto titanium, our work deals with the grafting of cell-binding peptides containing the Arginine- Glycine-Aspartic acid (RGD) sequence. In the present study, we focus on the elaboration of patterned biomaterial surfaces with highly functionalized nanodomains. The strategy of RGD peptide immobilization involves first the grafting if an amino-functional organosilane (APTES). Then, each of the free amino moieties were used as an initiator core for a dendrimer-like synthesis to multiply the number of free groups available for RGD immobilization on the material surface.